Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Pottia > Pottia Truncata

Pottia Truncata

Pottia TruncataPottia truncata, Fuern., l. c.

Habit and habitat.-Common in loose bright-green tufts in fields and gardens and along hedge-rows.

Name.-The specific name is the Latin truncata, cut off squarely, and refers to the abrupt summit of the spore-case which appears as if it had been sliced off.

Plant (gametophyte).-Small, 1/4 of an inch high and simple, or longer and branching.

Leaves.-Long-oval with the narrow end attached to the stem, concave, smooth ; apex taper-pointed, tipped with a sharp point ; margin flat ; vein extending below or beyond the apex.

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

Veil (calyptra).-Split on one side, smooth.

Spore-case.-Egg-shaped, broad end up (truncate).

Pedicel.-Short, red.

Lid (operculum).-Plano-convex with an oblique beak, falling with the columella attached.

Teeth (peristeme).-None.

Spores.-Brown, mature in fall and winter.

Distribution.-North America, Europe, Asia.