Paludella squarrosa (Hedw.) Brid.
tufted fen-moss (angled paludella moss)
Meesiaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
tufted fen-moss (angled paludella moss)
Meesiaceae
Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC
Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC
Species Information
Species description:
Genus name denoting a little marsh in reference to the habitat. Species name describing the leaf arrangement where the upper part of the leaf curves abruptly downward
Reproduction:
Sporophytes rare, pale brown when mature.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The regular, five-rowed arrangement of the extremely squarrose leaves, plus the moist calcareous habitat make this moss strikingly distinctive in British Columbia.
Habit:
Forming dense, tall turfs of yellow-green to pale green plants in which the leaves are arranged in five neat rows. The shoot, when viewed from above, has the leaves radiating like the five arms of a star. Habitat: In calcium-rich wetlands.
Similar Species:
None.
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
Range
World DistributionCircumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere; in North America extending southward in the east to the Great Lakes states and in the west to Wyoming.