Orthotrichum Moss

Orthotrichum alpestre Hornsch.; B.S.G. Bryol
Eur. (42:) Orthotr. Suppl. 1,1. 1849.
Orthotrichum stramineum sensu Bruch & Schimp. in B.S.G. Bryol. Eur. (2-3:) Orthotr. 23, in part, 1837. Doubtfully O. stramineum Hornsch. 1827.
Plants in rather dense tufts" or mats, 1-2 cm. high, bright to dark green; leaves loosely imbricate, more or less contorted when dry, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, keeled, acute or sometimes apiculate at the apex, about 3 mm. long, the margins strongly revolute except at the base; costa disappearing in the apex; basal leaf-cells smooth, rectangular, rather thinwalled and clear or brownish, the upper rounded-hexagonal, 10-12 jx in diameter, bearing large, simple, forked papillae; monoicous; seta about 0.5 mm. long; capsules more or less emergent, obovoid to pyriform, the neck distinct, 1.2-2 mm. long, 8-ribbed, subcylindric and strangulate when dry; calyptra with a few hairs; exothecial cells differentiated along the ribs, thinnerwalled and more transparent than in most species; stomata immersed; operculum conic-apiculate ; peristome double, the teeth 16, at first united in pairs, sometimes more or less perforate above, finely papillose, the papillae on the lower part of the teeth separate or in faint irregular designs, in the upper part m faint vertical lines and lighter-colored than below, the segments linear, 8, nearly as long as the teeth, of 2 rows of cells below, smooth; spores maturing in summer.
Type locality: Near Heiligenblut, Austria.
Distribution: On rocks, preferring dolomite and limestone, occasionally on trees; the Rocky Mountains to the Yukon Territory; more common in Colorado and Utah; Mt. Whitney; usually at relatively high altitudes; Europe; Asia.