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

Species description:
Genus name presumably referring to the loosely pinnate branching of the plants. Species named in honour of J. C. Schreber (1739-1810) a German botanist.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes occasional to locally abundant, dark red ­brown when mature, usually maturing in summer to autumn.

Comments:
Sometimes popularly called red-stem moss.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The red stem, the pinnate branching, the broadly ovate leaves with an apiculate tip, and the short double midrib usually separate this species of drier, usually forested habitats.

Habit:
Thick loose mats of semi-erect to reclining, glossy yellow ­green, golden-green to dull green, regularly branched shoots with con­spicuously red shoots.

Similar Species:
Pseudoscleropodium purum, a moss of city lawns, has green, rather than red, stems and leaves with a single midrib. Cal­liergonella cuspidata, a plant of wet sites, including lawns, also has green rather than red stems, and the leaves show no obvious midrib, but show swollen alar cells (alar cells in Pleurozium are small and angular). Some specimens of Hylocomium splendens from alpine areas may resemble Pleurozium, but the stems of Hylocomium are furry (under l0X hand lens) with paraphyllia.