Montana Field Guide

Plants: Acrocarpous (Vitt 1988), growing in open clumps of upright shoots or sprinkled further apart, pale green (Lawton 1971), glossy. Stems black, a little bent (Crum & Anderson et al., 1981), usually 5-15 mm in height, seldom to 60 mm (FNA 2014), branching infrequently (Lawton 1971); rhizoids sparse, reddish (Flowers 1973).

Leaves: Slightly bent and twisted when dry, upright to spreading broadly when wet (FNA 2014), the distal and perichaetial leaves longer than the proximal leaves (Flowers 1973), 4-5 mm in length, lance-shaped below, constricting suddenly to form a very slender, long acumen; leaf edges flat, smooth, occasionally finely-toothed close to the leaf tip (FNA 2014); costa nearly filling the upper blade (Flowers 1973), vanishing in the acumen (FNA 2014).

Leaf Cells: Laminal cells slender and long, quadrangular; upper cells longer and a little narrower than the basal cells (FNA 2014).

Damp soil, less often on decaying wood (Lawton 1971), disrupted habitats (FNA 2014), burned areas, greenhouses and in line with eave drippings (Crum & Anderson et al., 1981).

Usually the female and male reproductive organs intermingling, or occasionally appearing to be on separate plants. Seta pear-shaped, short to 4.5 cm tall (FNA 2014). Capsule sloped upward to drooping, shiny and pale to deep brown; neck about half the length of the entire capsule (Lawton 1971), 1.5-2.5 mm in length; peristome teeth 16; cilia of the endostome with crosswise ridges. Calyptra draping hood-like, hairless (FNA 2014), with a long beak, early deciduous (Flowers 1973).

Specialized vegetative reproductive structures borne at leaf junctures and on radicles in the form of red (FNA 2014) to deep purple gemmae (Flowers 1973).