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American Woodsy Plagiomnium Moss - Plagiomnium ciliare
General Description
Plant: Loose tufts. Green with yellow-green. Fertile stems 2-5 cm tall with prostrate stems to 10 cm long. Rhizoids numerous.
Leaf: When dry, leaves contorted. When moist, leaves ovate to oblong-elliptic and 4-7 x 3-4.5 mm. Apex mostly rounded with a cuspidate point. Fertile leaves strongly decurrent to about 1 mm; sterile leaves less decurrent. Margins bordered and mostly toothed with single teeth that are sharp, 1-3 cells long. Costa percurrent to shortly excurrent in the cuspidate tip.
Leaf Cells: Leaf cells more-or-less elongate, in diagonal rows. Median laminal cells near costa are 50-85 µm long with pitted walls, corner cell walls thickened. Cells become smaller towards margin and are less pitted. Marginal cells are long and narrow forming 2-4 rows in two or more layers.
Diagnostic Characteristics
All Plagiomnium species are characterized by single-toothed margins.
Range Comments
Canada: AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NT, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK; USA: AL, AK, AZ, AR, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NH, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV (FNA 2014). In Montana, known from Broadwater, Flathead, Glacier, Granite, Lake, and Powell Counties (Elliott 2016).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 7
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Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
On wet soil in the woods, but sometimes along streams.
Reproductive Characteristics
Dioicous. Seta is 2-4 cm, brown-green, and with 1-3 perichaetia. Capsules are pendant, yellow to yellow-brown, cylindric with a short, darker colored neck, and 3-4.5 mm long.
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Elliott, J.C. and A.K. Pipp. 2018. A Checklist of Montana Mosses (1880-2018). Updated 3 January, 2020. Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana. 73 pp.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 2014. Flora of North America North of Mexico. Volume 28. Bryophytes: Mosses, Part 2. Oxford University Press, Inc., NY. xxi + 702 pp.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Elliot, J. C. 1993. Second checklist of Montana mosses. Unpublished report. U.S. Forest Service, Region 1. Missoula, MT. 45 pp.
- Lawton, E. 1971. Keys for the Identification of the Mosses on the Pacific Northwest. Reprinted from 'Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest'. Published as Supplement No. 2 of the Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. Nichinan, Miyazaki, Japan. 66 pp.
- Lawton, E. 1971. Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Hattori Botanical Laboratory. Japan: Yamabuki-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. 362 pages plus appendices.
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