Calliergon stramineum (Brid.) Kindb.
straw water-moss (calliergon moss)
Amblystegiaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
straw water-moss (calliergon moss)
Amblystegiaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
Species Information
Species description:
Species name meaning straw-coloured, based on the colour of the leafy plants.
Reproduction:
Sporophytes infrequent, seta red-yellow to red, elongate; sporangia curved, cylindric to ovoid, brown when ripe. The plants are somewhat brittle when dry; the fragments may serve in vegetative reproduction.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The shiny, elongate, slender, pale yellow-green, glossy, unbranched or little-branched, leafy shoots that bear blunt leaves that have a midrib, combined with the wetland habitat, are distinctive.
Habit:
Erect or reclining shoots sometimes forming loose or dense turfs, or shoots scattered among other mosses. Plants tending to be sparsely branched or unbranched, slender, glossy, soft and pale yellowish-green to golden yellow in sunny sites.
Similar Species:
From Drepanocladus pseudostramineus, which it resembles, C. stramineum differs by the blunt rather than acute leaf-tips and the more pronounced differentiated alar cells in Drepanocladus. From unbranched specimens of Brachythecium it can also be distinguished by the acute or acuminate leaves of Brachythecium.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: Some Common Mosses of BC
Habitat and Range
Habitat
In open, rich fens, in swamps, on marshy lake shores, seepy depressions and bog hummocks, from near sea level to alpine sites, usually in sunny sites. Range
World DistributionCircumboreal (and reported from scattered localities at high elevations in the Southern Hemisphere), extending northward into the arctic. In North America extending, southward to the northern U.S.A.
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Calliergon stramineum (Saelan) Warnst.
Calliergon stramineum var. flagellaceum (G. Roth & Bock) Karcz.
Calliergon stramineum var. laxifolium (Kindb.) Karcz.
Calliergon stramineum var. nivale (Lor.) G. Roth
Calliergon stramineum var. patens (Lindb.) G. Roth
Straminergon stramineum (Brid.) Hedenäs