Ceratodon purpureum

• Interesting Facts
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Description

Family Ditrichaceae

Plants minute or rather small to medium-sized, gregarious or loosely to densely tufted . Stems erect , simple or forked , with a central strand. Leaves mostly lanceolate, acuminate or subulate , straight or somewhat curved , rarely sheathing at base ; in numerous rows (2 rows in Distichium) ; costa single, well developed, subpercurrent to excurrent, in section with 1 row of guide cells and 2 stereid bands , adaxial band sometimes much reduced; lamina cells smooth (± roughened in subula in Distichium) ; basal cells elongate , narrower towards the margins , those of basal angles not differentiated or forming a marginal border ; distal cells isodiametric or short-rectangular to elongate, walls firm. Specialized asexual reproduction occasional, as multicellular filamentous gemmae borne in axils or along stems, or as specialised tubers or filamentous propagules on rhizoids. Sexual condition dioicous, autoicous , paroicous , or synoicous ; perigonia axillary or on short branches adjacent to perichaetia, or terminal on separate plants ; perichaetial leaves not markedly differentiated or with a longer , broader sheathing base and shorter subulate apex. Seta short to ± elongate, yellow to orange, reddish brown, brown, or reddish purple; capsules immersed to emergent and subglobose to long-exserted and ± cylindric , erect to inclined or pendulous, often ± curved or asymmetric ; cleistocarpous , gymnostomous , or peristomate; annulus, when present, usually of 2-3 rows of larger cells, deciduous; peristome, when present, single, of 16 teeth, variously split into two terete filaments or perforate to near the base; operculum conic to short-rostrate. Calyptra cucullate , rarely mitrate. Spores spheric to ovoid or ± reniform , finely to coarsely papillose , verrucose , or somewhat vermicular or reticulate .

Genera 25, species ca. 140 (9 genera, 25 species in the flora ) : cosmopolitan , greatest occurrence in temperate regions .

Species of Ditrichaceae usually colonize soil, rarely wood , and some species have a distinct preference for calcareous substrates. The family is poorly defined and separated from Dicranaceae primarily on peristome characteristics, with the teeth divided into terete rather than flat filaments, and the general absence of vertical pit-striations. In some species, however, oblique ornamentation is present, at least in the distal portion of the teeth. W. R. Buck and B . Goffinet (2000) included 25 genera, with one hybrid genus, Pleuriditrichum, in the family. The inclusion of at least some of the genera seems somewhat anomalous . Within the flora, Ceratodon, Distichium, Ditrichum, Saelania, and Trichodon are peristomate, while Cleistocarpidium, Eccremidium, Pleuridium, and Pseudephemerum are cleistocarpic. Although in this treatment it is included in Ditrichaceae, Pseudephemerum was placed in Dicranaceae by Buck and Goffinet.[1]

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Ceratodon

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 4 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

C. purpureus (Ceratodon Moss) · C. purpureus var. purpureus (Ceratodon Moss) · C. purpureus var. rotundifolius (Roundleaf Ceratodon Moss) · C. stenocarpus (Ceratodon Moss)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Annual record of science and industry. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872-[1879] url p. 514.
• Archives of science and transactions of the Orleans County Society of Natural Sciences. Newport, Vt.: J.M. Currier, [1870-1874] url p. 112.
• Flora of the Miami Valley, Ohio /c by A.P. Morgan. Dayton, Ohio: Literary Union, 1878. url p. 52.
• Journal of botany, British and foreign. 41 1903 London: Robert Hardwicke, 1863-1942. url p. 357.
• Mosses and lichens: a popular guide to the identification and study of our commoner mosses and lichens, their uses, and methods of preserving / by Nina L. Marshall; plates. .. from photographs by J.A. & H.C. Anderson. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1920. url , , p. 167, p. 316, p. 9.
• Mosses and lichens; a popular guide to the identification and study of our commoner mosses and lichens, their uses, and methods of preserving, by Nina L. Marshall. .. Sixteen plates in colour, thirty-two in black and white, from photographs by Hannah C. Anderson; and many text illustrations. New York, Doubleday, Page, 1907. url , p. 167, p. 316, p. 9.
• Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1841- url , p. 109.
• Proceedings of the South London Entomological & Natural History Society. London [Eng]: South London Entomological and Natural history Society, [1897-1933] url p. 104.
• Rambles in search of flowerless plants. By Margaret Plues. London, Journal of horticulture & cottage gardener office; [etc., etc.]1864. url p. 67.
• The Irish naturalist. Dublin: Eason & Son, Ltd., 1892- url p. 194.
• The Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. 31 1895-1897 London: the Society: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green: ||Williams and Norgate, 1865-1968. url p. 389, p. 587.
• The physiology of plants. a treatise upon the metabolism and sources of energy in plants, ed. by A.J. Ewart. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1900-6. url p. 276.
• The physiology of plants; a treatise upon the metabolism and sources of energy in plants, Oxford, Clarendon press, 1900-06. url p. 229.
• The tree book: a popular guide to a knowledge of the trees of North America and to their uses and cultivation / Garden City: Doubleday, Page, 1914. url , , p. 167, p. 168, p. 169, p. 316, p. 9.
• Transactions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club. London: Gurney & Jackson, 1879- url .
• Britton, E. G. 1913b. Ditrichaceae. In: N. L. Britton et al., eds. 1905+. North American Flora. ..... 47+ vols. New York. Vol. 15, pp. 55-67.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.

Identifiers

• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 2164224

Footnotes

1. Rodney D. Seppelt "Ditrichaceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 27 Page 360, 377, 383, 433, 443, 444, 467. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.