Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Aulacomnium > Aulacomnium Palustre Moss

Aulacomnium Palustre Moss

Aulacomnium Palustre MossAulacomnium palustre, Schwaegr.

Habit and habitat.-In loose or dense tufts 1 to 5 inches deep, yellow or dirty-green above, red-brown within. Found on borders of swamps, on plains, or on mountains.

Name.-The specific name palustre, Latin, palus, a swamp, refers to the habit of the moss.

Plants (gametophyte).-Robust, closely covered with redbrown felted filaments, often producing whip-like branches with clusters of bud-like growths at the apex.

Leaves.-Usually crowded, more or less crisped and twisted when dry, narrowly lance-shaped; apex obtuse or pointed; margin finely toothed toward the apex, rolled back below; vein vanishing below the apex; cells with tiny projections on both faces.

Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers plants (dioicous). Male flower-clusters bud-like.

Veil (calyptra).-Split up one side.

Spore-case.-Oblong, unsymmetrical.

Pedicel.-1 to 2 inches long.

Lid (operculum).-Conical.

Annulus.-Large, compound, rolling back as the lid falls.

Teeth (peristome).-Long, acute, the segments of the inner membrane about as long, with 3 to 4 cilia intermediate.

Spores.-Maturing in early summer.

Distribution.-Universal.