E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Species description:
Genus name meaning to break off at the foot, the particular significance which is not clear. Species name referring to the leaves that become curled and twisted when dry.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes abundant in late winter and maturing in early spring; seta and sporangia red-brown and not shiny when mature and dry.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The regularly pinnate, bright yellow-green plants, the broadly triangular leaves, very contorted when dry, the rough seta and the long-snouted operculum are all distinctive.

Habit:
Pale yellow-green to bright green mats, especially vivid when humid and during the spring, shoots often forming a dense weft over the substratum. The shoots usually bear many regularly arranged lateral branches. When dry the plants are dull yellow-green to dark green and the leaves are much contorted.

Similar Species:
It is impossible to distinguish some specimens of C. bolanderi from C. crispifolium without microscopic examination of the papillae on leaf cells: in C. crispifolium there is a single usually sharp papilla for each cell, while in C. bolanderi there are several papillae on each cell. C. bolanderi is the dominant species of this genus at subalpine elevations; it also occurs, infrequently, near sea level; east of the Coast Range, C. bolanderi is the likely species.