Gooseneck star moss
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Gooseneck star moss ( Mnium hornum ) |
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The gooseneck star moss ( Mnium hornum ) is an acrokarpes (summit fruited) moss that forms fresh green to dark green lawns. The genus name comes from the Greek mníon , which means plant of unknown origin that grows in water.
distribution
The gooseneck star moss is a common forest moss and prefers to colonize lime-free to lime-free, sufficiently moist forest soils. It is a characteristic moss in alder quarries . When the air humidity is high, it also colonizes other substrates such as dead wood and the bark of living trees. Its distribution area extends with larger gaps (limestone areas) over almost the entire cooler northern hemisphere up to an altitude of about 1700 m. In the meantime, due to the acid rain , the moss also grows the base of tree trunks and tree stumps on calcareous soils.
features
The gooseneck star moss forms 2 cm, sometimes up to 5 cm high, almost always unbranched stems with even foliage. While the fertile plants form the eponymous star-shaped peaks with a central, granular, brown antheridia and archegonia state , the sterile plants are leafed on all sides, with the leaves usually becoming smaller towards the often slightly overhanging stem tip. The lanceolate, moist upright leaves are often lined with reddish brown. They reach a length of about 6 to 12 mm and a width of about 1 to 2.5 mm. When dry, the leaves are often twisted towards the stem. The hemmed leaf margin is provided with double teeth. The vein leads to the tip of the leaf and is serrated on the back. The lamina cells are hexagonal in shape and only about 100 micrometers long on average. The fertile plants form a red colored seta (capsule stalk) about 3 cm long . This bears a nodding, egg-shaped capsule, initially bright light green, later light brown in color, the capsule lid of which is blunt at the front. The capsules are curved like a gooseneck and have given moss its nickname.
Images as an aid to determination
Female, sterile plant
Serrated blade
Serrated leaf margin in the microscope, approx. 200 × magnification
The lamina cells at a magnification of about 400 ×
literature
- Volkmar Wirth , Ruprecht Düll : Color Atlas of Lichen and Moss. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3517-5 .
- Rudolf Schubert, Günther Wagner: Botanical dictionary. Plant names and botanical terms (= UTB . 1476). 11th edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-8252-1476-1 .
Web links
- Image ( Memento from February 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )