Distichium capillaceum (Hedw.) B.S.G.
erect-fruited iris-moss (distichium moss)
Ditrichaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
erect-fruited iris-moss (distichium moss)
Ditrichaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
Species Information
Species description:
Genus name meaning two rows, in reference to the leaf arrangement. Species name denoting hair-like, in reference to the slender leaves.
Reproduction:
Sporophytes frequent and maturing in summer, light brown.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The erect, strongly flattened, leafy plants with glossy, overlapping, sheathing leaf-bases give each shoot the distinctive superficial appearance of a miniature ear of barley.
Habit:
Forming dense turfs of glossy, dark green to light green, unbranched, somewhat flattened, erect shoots.
Similar Species:
D. inclinatum differs in the usually shorter plants that have a short, stout inclined sporangium (compared to the erect, narrowly cylindric sporangium of D. capitlaceum). Some specimens of Ditrichum resemble this species but the leaves lack the flattened, sheathing bases.
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
Usually in cliff crevices, particularly on calcium-rich substrata, but also terrestrial, from sea level to alpine elevationsRange
World DistributionCircumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere, also extending southward, especially in the mountains, in the Southern Hemisphere; in North America extending southward to New York State in the east and to Arizona in the west.