Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Euhypnum > Hypnum Euhypnum Reptile Moss

Hypnum Euhypnum Reptile Moss

Hypnum (Euhypnum) reptile, Michx.

Habit and habitat.-Found in pale- or dusky-green, wide and loose tufts on the bark of living or decayed trees. Common and variable in sub-alpine regions, rare in the plains except northward.

Name.-From the Latin reptilio, creeping.

Plant (gametophyte).-Drooping, stems branching, the branches feather-branched, the branchlets erect and incurved.

Leaves.-Crowded, concave, long taper-pointed from an oblong base; margin sharply serrate above, flat or recurved below; vein double, short, yellowish; leaf-like organs (paraphyllia) on the stem, few and very small, lance-shaped or palm-like.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichaetial leaves).-The inner long, taper-pointed, longitudinally grooved with double vein and toothed apex.

Habit of flowering. -Male and female flowers on the same stems, (monoicous).

Veil (calyptra).-Thin, split up one side.

Spore-case.-Somewhat erect, cylindrical, yellowish, curved when dry.

Pedicel.-Smooth.

Lid (operculum).-Large, yellow, shortly beaked from a highly convex base.

Teeth (peristome).-Long taperpointed, orange at the base, segments of the inner membrane cleft between the cross bars; cilia shorter than the segments.

Annulus. -Large, compound.

Spores.-Mature in August.

Distribution,-North America and Europe.