Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous (Vitt 1988). Growing in open clumps of erect shoots (Crum & Anderson et al. 1981) to somewhat scattered (Flowers 1973), frequently with other moss species (Lawton 1971), green, sometimes with yellow tones (FNA 2014), brown proximally (Lawton 1971). Stems 5-10 mm (occasionally to 20 mm), sometimes bud-like; rhizoids russet to brown (FNA 2014), typically papillose (Lawton 1971).

Leaves: Appressed and overlapping (FNA 2014), barely twisted or curved when dry, spreading a little when wet (Crum & Anderson et al. 1981), egg-shaped, sometimes tending toward lance-shaped, mostly 0.5-1.5 mm in length (FNA 2014), 0.35-0.45 mm in width (Lawton 1971), shallowly cupped, not keeled along the costa; base not extending down stem; margins smooth above, rolled back and downward below, unbordered; apex sometimes tapering to form an acumen; costa extending to the apex or seldom slightly beyond (FNA 2014).

Leaf Cells: Lower laminal cells square to short-quadrangular; middle and upper cells diamond-shaped to 6-sided, elongate, 3-4:1 (FNA 2014), laminal cells lengthened and more slender at the leaf edges, but not creating a border (Lawton 1971).

Fruit ripens spring through mid-summer (FNA 2014).

Dry to damp soil, soil overlying stone (FNA 2014), damp clay soil or sand, frequently beside roads (Lawton 1971) and in other disrupted habitats (Crum & Anderson et al. 1981). Elevation: 0-6560 feet (FNA 2014).

Dioicous. Seta 8-20 mm tall (Lawton 1971). Capsule usually 1-3 mm (sometimes a little longer), red with purple tones, drooping, the neck slightly thickened (not clearly swollen) and narrowing suddenly to the seta; cilia transversely ridged and long (FNA 2014).

Specialized vegetative reproduction by bulbils in leaf axils, with 1 or 2 per axil, the bulbils somewhat long and ovoid, bearing wide triangular primordia from just above the base to nearly mid-bulbil (FNA 2014).