Bruchia Flexuosa Moss
Habit and habitat:-Found on clay or on base soil in fields or under old willows and along brooks.Name.-The specific name flexuosa, the Latin for "crooked," refers to the curving of the stems near the bases.
Plant (gametophyte).-In loose tufts, stems comparatively long, curved downward at the base.
Leaves.-Stem-leaves distant, very small, nearly smooth, narrowly lance-shaped and prolonged into an awn; apex obscurely serrate.
Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers close together on the same plant (paroicous) or in separate buds on the same plant.
Veil (calyptra).-Resembling a bishop's mitre, thin, lobed, or torn at the base.
Spore-case.-Not immersed in the leaves at the base, egg-shaped with a neck (collum) shorter or equal to the spore-sac, long-beaked.
Pedicel.-One-tenth to two-tenths of an inch long.
Lid (operculum).-None.
Teeth (peristome).-None.
Spores.--Mature in the fall.
Distribution.-Found in the central part of North America.