Nice Widertonmoos
| Nice Widertonmoos | ||||||||||||
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Beautiful Widertonmoos ( Polytrichastrum formosum ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Polytrichastrum formosum | ||||||||||||
| ( Hedw. ) GLSm. |
The beautiful wary moss ( Polytrichastrum formosum , syn. Polytrichum attenuatum Menzies ), also called beautiful woman's hair moss , is one of the most common and most conspicuous mosses in Central European forests.
features
It is blue-green and has numerous spore capsules that are provided with a fibrous protective cover. If you touch them, a fine rain of spores often emerges. The moss cushions are shaped like stars, which are called leaf stars.
With its unbranched or at most rarely forked stems, the moss forms loose lawns 5 to 15 cm high.
The 9–12 mm long leaves are broadly sheathed at the base. In the upper part of the leaf, the leaf vein fills almost the entire leaf. The leaf margin, which is only 2–6 cells wide, is roughly and sharply serrated. On the upper side of the leaf vein there are lamellae, the upper edge of which is not furrowed, but rounded.
The capsule sits on a 4–8 cm long stem ( seta ), which is usually reddish below and yellowish above. It is initially covered by a yellow-brown, hairy hood, the kalyptra . When ripe, the capsule is strongly square to hexagonal and nods.
distribution
The beautiful Widertonmoos occurs all over the northern hemisphere in the temperate latitudes ( Holarctic ). In the mountains the species rises to the tree line.
It is one of the most common and largest mosses of all types of forests in Europe . It prefers weakly acidic and only moderately moist locations. They get by with very little light.
It is found in both deciduous and coniferous forests. They not only cover the forest floor, but also stones and dead wood. Like other mosses, they can store 20 times their weight in water, which makes them important water reservoirs in the forest.
Web links
literature
- Jan-Peter Frahm , Wolfgang Frey : Moosflora (= UTB . 1250). 4th, revised and expanded edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8252-1250-5 .