Anomodon Apiculatus Moss
Anomodon apiculatus, Bruch & Schimp.Habit and habitat.-Loosely and widely tufted on trees and rocks in mountains.
Name.-The specific name apiculatus from the Latin apex, apicis, refers to the short-pointed leaves.
Plants (gametophyte).-Green, with a bloom, dirty-red when old. Primary stems prostrate and whip-like ; secondary stems straight, simple or divided at the base.
Leaves.-Two-ranked, tongue-shaped, thick, opaque ; apex pointed; margin wavy; vein transparent, vanishing below the apex; surface covered with tiny protuberances; base oblong-oval with ear-like and fringed appendages; cells dense, minute, round.
Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichaetial leaves).-Long and sheathing, tongueshaped toward the apex.
Habit of flowering. -Male and female flowers on separate plants, (dioicous).
Veil (calyptra).-Split up one side.
Spore-case.-Egg-shaped or elliptical.
Pedicel (seta).-Short.
Lid (operculum).-Conic, beaked.
Teeth ( peristome).-Narrowly lance-shaped and awl-shaped, cross-barred and knotty. Segments of the inner membrane very short from a very narrow base, sometimes wanting.
Annulus.-None.
Spores.-Mature in autumn.
Distribution.-North America, Europe, Asia.