Species description:
The species name refers to the fern-like appearance of the leafy plants.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes infrequent, maturing in summer; seta red, elongate, sporangium brown, curved, not glossy when dry. Vegetative reproduction by fragmentation is probably the main means of local dispersal.

Distinguishing characteristics:
Usually plants have a fern-like form with many short, lateral branches that gradually become shorter toward the apex; thus the whole shoot resembles a fern frond. The broadly triangu­lar leaves with distinct midrib and bulging alar cells are characteristic. These features, combined with the wet habitat, are usually sufficient to mark the species.

Habit:
Forming dense mats of erect to suberect shoots varying from pale green to brownish-green to golden green.

Similar Species:
Helodium blandowii grows in similar habitats but the plants are usually yellow green, the pinnate branches are more than twice the length they are in the Cratoneuron, and they tend to emerge at right angles rather than acute angles; paraphyllia are obvious at lOX; differentated alar cells are absent. Tomentypnum nitens has conspicuously pleated leaves, and lacks differentiated alar cells. Kindbergia praelonga has more complex branching and lacks the conspicuous alar cells. K. oregana, besides the features of K. praelonga, grows in dry rather than wet habitats.

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

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cratoneuron curvicaule (Jur.) G. Roth
Cratoneuron filicinum var. aciculinum (Müll. Hal. & Kindb.) Grout
Cratoneuron filicinum var. curvicaule (Jur.) Mönk.