Comments
provided by eFloras
Splachnobryum obtusum is almost entirely restricted to base-rich substrates in the flora area and probably elsewhere in its broad range. It is an obscure moss, difficult to find in the field because of its small size, drab aspect, and absence of field characters. Most specimens from the flora area are tiny, poorly developed plants with short stems and small leaves. In the flora area, underdeveloped specimens of various other mosses, mostly Bryaceae and Pottiaceae, are sometimes misidentified as Splachnobryum. Under the microscope the leaf shape, crenulate distal leaf margin, and distal leaf cells in ascending rows diverging from the costa, are helpful for identification. The oddly shaped axillary hairs also are helpful, but often difficult to demonstrate. The leaves of many specimens of this moss are difficult to rehydrate after drying. Plants with archegonia are common in at least some of the material seen. Rhizoid tubers, as reported by T. Arts (1996) for African specimens of S. obtusum, are present in at least some of the specimens from the flora area, including the New Orleans material.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Description
provided by eFloras
Plants gregarious, small, dull, often encrusted with soil. Stems to 1 cm but mostly much shorter, distal cell of axillary hairs swollen, somewhat asymmetric, colorless, often encrusted. Leaves soft, commonly shriveled when dry, rarely uncontorted or nearly so, 0.6-0.8 mm, oblong to obovate or spatulate, sometimes decurrent from costa and margins, margins plane, or a little recurved proximally; costa weak to strong, 1/2 leaf length to nearly percurrent, sometimes spurred or forked, or both, distally. Specialized asexual reproduction by gemmae on axillary rhizoids, rare; rhizoid tubers inconspicuous, of several bulging cells in linear arrangement.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA
Synonym
provided by eFloras
Weissia obtusa Bridel, Muscol. Recent., suppl. 1: 118. 1806; Splachnobryum bernoullii Müller Hal.
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- Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Boulevard, St. Louis, MO, 63110 USA