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Calliergonella cuspidata
This large moss has erect to ascending, flattened stems that look like spear-heads. Whereas in Europe and along the western coast of North America the species is a common weed of ditches and yards, in continental Canada it occurs almost exclusively in moderate-rich fens. The leaves are complanate (flattened) and not at all secund, this feature separates this species from Breideria pratensis (= Hypnum pratensis); this latter species has flattened leaves with secund tips and only a few moderate-sized alar cells. Calliergonella lindbergii (= Hypnum lindbergii) has inflated alar cells and a stem hyalodermis much like C. cuspidata, but has distinctly falcate-secund leaves. Both B. pratensis and C. lindbergii occur characteristically in shrubby and wooded rich fens and forested swamps.
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Above: Calliergonella cuspidata in the field |
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Habit |
Robust, erect to ascending shiny, yellow-green plants occurring in mats or singly among other mosses |
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Stems |
irregularly to subpinnately branched, with a distinct hyalodermis and central strand |
Leaves |
oblong to oblong-ovate, rounded and obtuse, concave, costa none or short and double, margins entire |
Leaf Cells |
elongate and flexuose, smooth, those near insertion are thicker-walled |
Alar Cells |
oblong to oval, inflated, thin-walled, hyaline and forming conspicuous auricles |
Habitat |
in fen lawns and carpets, floating mats and wet meadows |
Common Associates |
When in peatlands, sometimes associated with Brachythecium mildeanum, Sphagnum subsedundum, S. teres, Campylum polygamum and Breideria pratensis |
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