Status: Native
Synonyms:
Mnium ellipticum Brid.
Mnium rugicum Laurer
Plagiomnium ellipticum has abundant arching, horizontal branches with green stems (plagiotropic branches). The leaves are usually less than 6mm long and rounded toward the apex which has a small apiculus in many leaves. The leaf margins are bluntly toothed or entire. The leaf bases are not decurrent. The laminal cells form diagnonal rows from the costa to the margin, and conspicuously decrease in size from the cells nearest the costa to those near the margin.
The laminal cells near the costa are 50-65μm in length, unlike the similar P. rostratum in which the cells nearest the costa are much smaller at 22-35μm in length. Dr. Allred collected this specimen at upper elevation (8535 feet) in subalpine mixed conifer forest.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
Plagiomnium ellipticum, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of portion of plagiotropic stem with non-decurrent leaves, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of single leaf, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of lamina showing cells in obvious diagonal rows from costa to margin, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of leaf with blunt teeth, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of leaf highlighting the decrease in cell size from the costa to the margin, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
Plagiomnium ellipticum, photomicrograph of measured laminal cells, specimen collected by Kelly Allred, Santa Fe NF, Pecos Wilderness, Winsor Creek Trailhead on rocks in creek, June 28, 2000, photo Russ Kleinman & Karen Blisard, May 18, 2022
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