Status: Native
Synonyms:
Brachythecium stereopoma (Spruce ex Mitt.) Jaeger
Brachythecium wootonii Grout
Hypnum ruderale Bridel
Brachythecium ruderale is a robust moss with a weak costa that does not reach the apex. The alar cells are not bloated but rather are relatively thick walled. The leaves are over a millimeter long and are straight and plicate. The leaves are serrulate and very cup shaped (concave.) Because they are so concave, when they are stripped from the stem to prepare a slide with a cover slip, they tend to be folded or longitudinally slit. They are rather oval shaped for the genus and have an abruptly acuminate tip. Brachythecium ruderale lives in the forest at higher elevations.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Brachythecium ruderale, photo Russ Kleinman, Bill Norris & Karen Blisard, San Francisco Mtns., Johnson Canyon, June 14, 2010
Brachythecium ruderale, 3x macro, photo Russ Kleinman, Bill Norris & Karen Blisard, San Francisco Mtns., Johnson Canyon, June 14, 2010
Brachythecium ruderale, 40x photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman, Bill Norris & Karen Blisard, San Francisco Mtns., Johnson Canyon, June 14, 2010
Brachythecium ruderale, 100x photomicrograph of leaf showing sharply acuminate tip and plicate edges with deep convex lamina with bubble inside, photo Russ Kleinman, Bill Norris & Karen Blisard, San Francisco Mtns., Johnson Canyon, June 14, 2010
Brachythecium ruderale, 40x photomicrograph of two typical leaves, photo Russ Kleinman, Bill Norris & Karen Blisard, San Francisco Mtns., Johnson Canyon, June 14, 2010
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