Dicranum rhabdocarpum Sull.

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part One: Sphagnales to Bryales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (1): 1-452.

  • Family

    Dicranaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Dicranum rhabdocarpum Sull.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants up to 6 cm high, green to yellowish-green, radiculose nearly to the apex. Leaves 3-5.5 x 0.5-1 mm, straight to somewhat flexuose, erect-spreading, scarcely changed when dry, broadly acute, concave or tubulose below, tubulose to slightly keeled above, ovate-lanceolate, unistratose; margins weakly serrate only near the apex; costa subpercurrent, the upper part with 2 weakly serrated dorsal ridges, in section showing 1 row of guide cells and 2 weak stereid bands, the dorsal epidermal layer sometimes with a few differentiated cells; cells elongate and pitted throughout. Dioicous. Male plants about the size of female plants. Setae solitary, 1.5-2 cm long, yellow to reddish-brown; capsules 2.5-3.5 mm long, straight, erect, furrowed when dry; annulus none; operculum 1.5-2.5 mm long. Spores 14-19 µm.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 122

    D. rhabdocarpum Sull., Mem. Amer. Acad. II, 4: 172. 1849.

    D. scoparioides Schimp. ex Besch., Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 16: 164. 1872.

    Orthodicranum rhabdocarpum (Sull.) Holz., Bryologist 28:22.1925.

    The short, straight, ovate-lanceolate leaves, weakly serrate margins and costa, and straight, erect capsules help to distinguish this species.

  • Distribution

    On soil, soil over rock, or rotten wood at moderate to high altitudes, up to about 3300 m; Chihuahua, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas, Veracruz.—Mexico; Guatemala; Dominican Republic; western United States (Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico).

    United States of America North America| Dominican Republic South America| Guatemala Central America| Mexico North America|