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

Aulacomnium Heterostichum Moss

Aulacomnium heterostichum, Bruch & Schimp.

Habit and habitat.- In wide palegreen tufts on shady banks and slopes in the woods.

Name.-The specific name, heterostichum, is a compound of two Greek words for; other and; rank, referring to two kinds of leaves.

Plant (gametophyte).-Stems densely covered with red-brown filaments (tomentose).

Leaves.-Inclined to one side; lower obovate, upper gradually longer and obovate-oblong, incurved on one side; apex nearly flat, obtusely pointed (apiculate); margin saw-toothed from the middle upward; vein (costa) yellow-brown, vanishing below the apex.

Habit of flowering.Male and female flowers on one plant (monoicous). The male flower-clusters, sessile along the stems, and with rootlets at the base. The inner leaves of the clusters broadly ovateconcave, abruptly pointed and veined.

Veil (calyptra). -Split up one side.

Spore-case. -Oblong, slightly incurved and inclined.

Pedicel (seta).-Short, erect.

Lid (operculum).-Convex, obtusely short-beaked.

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

Teeth ( peristome ).- Large, the inner segments open, but not disjoined, cilia 2 to 3.

Spores. -Mature in June.

Distribution.-Asia, Japan, North America.