Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Barbula > Claw Leaved Barbula Moss

Claw Leaved Barbula Moss

The Claw-leaved Barbula, Barbula unguiculata, Hedw.

Habit and habitat. -Common and variable in soft bright or dirty-green tufts on damp black soil, along fences, on rocks, stones, etc.

Name.-The specific name unguiculata from the Latin unguis, a claw, refers to the sharp-pointed leaves.

Plant (galnetophyte).Variable, 1/4 to 1 inch high.

Leaves. -Narrowly oblong, apex obtuse with an abrupt sharp point; vein rough with tiny points and passing beyond the apex; margin rolled back from the middle downward; cells, the upper obscure, nearly square, the basal longer, small, narrow, transparent.

Leaves at the base of the spore-case (perichaetial leaves). Transparent to near the apex.

Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioicous); male plants more slender, flower-clusters terminal and bud-like, bracts broadly egg-shaped.

Veil (calyptra).-Narrow, long-beaked.

Pedicel (seta).-Brown-red or purple, variable in length.

Spore-case.-Oblong-elliptical or sub-cylindrical, regular or incurved.

Lid (operculum).-Conical, beak long, straight, or curved.

Teeth (peristome).-Long and slender, deep-red and twisted two or three times.

Annulus.-None.

Spores.-Mature in winter or spring.