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

Species description:
Species name denoting seamed, presumably in reference to the grooved sporangium.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes common in spring to summer.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The conspicuous red-brown ribs on the spo­rangium wall, the presence of reddish peristome teeth, the unfringed, golden, opaque calyptra and the hair-pointed leaves are useful features.

Habit:
Short, loose turfs of erect, yellow-green to bluish-green shoots with hair-pointed leaves.

Similar Species:
Of species of Encalypta in which the sporangium is ribbed, E. spathulata differs in its absence of peristome teeth and in the pale, nearly transparent calyptra, E. intermedia also lacks peristome teeth and the leaves are generally without hair points, E. procera has obvious peristome teeth, the grooves on the sporangium are oblique, rather than .vertical, and the leaves are blunt tipped. E. vulgaris, a relatively widespread species, has ungrooved sporangia and lacks peristome teeth.