Delicate Fern Moss
Thuidium delicatulum
34.15, -84.71
Field Notes
Description:
As it’s common name suggests, the gametophyte resembles a tiny fern. These moss may be green to yellow in color and their growth habit form mats(253, Crum). The stems are monopodially branched. They have tiny branched threads called paraphyllia. They also have small bumps covering their stem and cell surface called papillae. The stem and branch leaves are differentiated and can be distinguished with a microscope. Each branch is twice-pinnately branched. The leaves posses a single costa, or midrib, with short lamellae protruding from it(253, Crum).
Habitat:
Thuidium is widely distributed. It can be found in Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Asia. It has also been documented in Alaska, S. Dakota, Iowa, British Columbia, the Yukon, N. Carolina to Michigan, and Newfoundland to Manitoba. This cosmopolitan moss may even be found in Mexico to South America!
A terrestrial moss usually found growing on moist, shaded soil, humus, rocks, logs, or stumps. It may also be found growing at the moist base of trees
Notes:
Spotted on Visitor Center (Green) Trail
Additional ref:
http://www.ohio.edu/plantbio/vislab/moss/byrd.htm
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