Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Thuidium > Dainty Cedar Moss

Dainty Cedar Moss

The Dainty Cedar Moss, Hypnum (Thuidium) delicatulum, Linn.

Habit and habitat.-Creeping fern-like plants on ground, roots of trees, and rocks. Common and exceedingly beautiful. The specimen photographed grew on a stone in a babbling brook.

Name.-The Dainty Cedar Moss is most attractive ; it was well known to the great Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus, who gave it the specific name delicatulum, dainty.

Plant (gametophyte). -Three times feather-branched, the primary stems densely rooting.

Leaves.-The stem-leaves densely crowded, enlarged at the base ; branch-leaves broadly oval ; apex long-pointed ; base concave ; vein strong ; margin serrate ; cells small, the apical truncate and crowned with 2 to 3 acute papillae ;Paraphyllia of varied forms.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel.-Long-ciliate.

Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioicous).

Veil (calyptra).-Split up one side.

Spore-case.-Cylindrical, arched.

Pedicel (seta).-One to one-and-a-half inches long.

Lid (operculum).-Conical.

Annalus.-Double.

Teeth (peristome).-Double as in Hypnum.

Spores.-Mature in winter.

Distribution.-Europe, North and South America.