Dicranum polysetum - (image 1 of 5)
Taxonomy
Family: Dicranaceae
Habitat
Humus or sometimes on soil in dry and moist woods.
Associates
Distribution
Circumpolar; In North America from Yukon to Nova Scotia, south to WA, MO, KY, and NC.
Morphology
Plants forming dense, tomentose tufts to 15 cm high; color ranging from light green to golden-yellow. Leaves glossy, spreading, rarely secund, to 10 mm long, lanceolate, with 2 serrate ridges on the back; cells elongate, smooth; alar cells clearly differentiated, golden-brown. Setae clustered, 1-5 per perichaetium, to 3.7 mm long; capsule curved, near horizontal, asymmetric; annulus lacking.
Notes
This species, like many Dicranum spp., is functionally monoicous, with male plants present as buds on the tomentum of leaves of female plants. It is the largest species of Dicranum in our area. The specific epithet polysetum refers to the clustered setae, the setae being single in most other species.
References
Crum, H. 2004. Mosses of the Great Lakes Forest, 4th ed.
The University of Michigan Herbarium. Ann Arbor, MI
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Freckmann Herbarium: Wisconsin Bryophytes. Dicranum polysetum. 2010. (http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/Bryophytes/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=DICPOL)
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Michael Hough © 2010 |