Pylaisia polyantha
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Pylaisia polyantha |
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| ( Hedw. ) Chimp. |
Pylaisia polyantha (German many fruit moss ) is a deciduous moss species in the Pylaisiaceae family .
features
Pylaisia polyantha forms shiny, yellowish-green to dark green, loose and low lawns with creeping stems that adhere to the substrate with rhizoids . In appearance it is very similar to the silk moss ( Homalothecium sericeum ), but is usually more delicate than this. The branches are up to 5 millimeters long and usually curved upwards. The leaves of the stems and branches are about the same, dry rather close-fitting, moist upright protruding, straight or slightly one-sided, drawn out into a long and fine point for an elliptical base, more or less entire, up to 2 millimeters long and 0.5 millimeters wide. The leaf margins are mostly flat, rarely rolled over slightly. The leaf vein is short and double or often absent entirely.
The lamina cells are smooth and narrow-linear; the leaf wing cells are square and form an indistinct, roughly triangular group, which extends slightly up the leaf edges.
The moss is monoecious and is very often fruitful. Often there are two generations - younger and older - of sporophytes . The seta is up to 2 centimeters long, the elongated-cylindrical spore capsule is upright and straight, the lid is conically pointed to short beaked. The outer, linear-lanceolate peristome teeth are free down to the base and are shorter than the inner peristome teeth. Spores are 12 to 18 µm in size, finely papillary and yellowish green.
Can be confused with similar species
The habitually very similar Homalothecium sericeum has leaves with distinct longitudinal folds and a long rib. In contrast to Pylaisia polyantha, Platygyrium repens usually forms brood sprouts at the branch tips and the otherwise very similar leaves have a shorter leaf tip. It can also be confused with Hypnum cupressiforme var. Resupinatum : in this species the capsule lids are long beaked, the leaf basal cells are often spotted and diamond-shaped with pointed cell ends; Pylaisia polyantha shows here approximately rectangular and non-stippled leaf base cells.
Location claims and distribution
Pylaisia polyantha grows mainly on the bark of deciduous trees in orchards, on avenue trees and in sparse forests. Apple trees, poplars, ash trees and willows are preferred. It settles less frequently with calcareous stone and walls, rotten wood or also wooden fences and wooden roofs.
The moss is common in the northern hemisphere. In Central Europe it occurs from the lowlands to heights of around 1500 meters, is mostly common in Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany, and in the rest of Germany it is often endangered or threatened with extinction.
literature
- Jan-Peter Frahm , Wolfgang Frey : Moosflora (= UTB . 1250). 4th, revised and expanded edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8252-1250-5 .
- Martin Nebel, Georg Philippi (ed.): The mosses of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 2: Special part, (Bryophytina II, Schistostegales to Hypnobryales). Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3530-2 .
