Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness

Presented in Association with the
Western New Mexico University Department of Natural Sciences

Pseudoamblystegium subtile (Hedw.) Vanderp. & Hedenäs

Family: Hypnaceae

Status: Native

Synonyms:
Leskea subtilis Hedwig
Amblystegiella subtilis (Hedwig) Loeske
Amblystegium subtile (Hedwig) Schimper
Platydictya subtilis (Hedwig) H.A. Crum
Serpoleskea subtilis (Hedwig) Loeske

Pseudoamblystegium subtile is very small and inconspicuous. P. subtile grows on bark here. The rhizoids are red-brown and grow from the outer base of the leaves or from between the leaves, but not from the leaf axil. There are many quadrate alar cells and the cells are elongate near the apex. Other small pleurocarps that grow on trees with which it can be confused are Pseudoleskeella tectorum (but it has shorter leaf cells that the rhombic ones of P. subtile), Homomallium mexicanum (larger, and with much longer laminal cells), Lindbergia brachyptera (papillose), and Haplocladium angustifolium (prorate laminal cells, dimorphic leaves and paraphyllia). We found P. subtile growing at the base of the trunk of a Fraxinus velutina alongside Cherry Creek at middle elevation in the Gila.
Please click on an image for a larger file.



Pseudoamblystegium subtile (water mount photomicrograph), photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021



Pseudoamblystegium subtile, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021



Pseudoamblystegium subtile, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021



Pseudoamblystegium subtile, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021



Pseudoamblystegium subtile, photomicrograph of leaf apex, photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021



Pseudoamblystegium subtile, photomicrograph of stem with brownish rhizoids arising from leaf bases, photo Russ Kleinman, Karen Blisard & Kelly Allred, Pinos Altos Range, Cherry Creek Canyon, August 8, 2021


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