Compilation
Dicranella varia

42 Images see all

Previous
Next

Name

Identification
Dicranella varia (Hedw.) Schimp. [family DICRANACEAE ] (stored under name); Dicranella fallax Wilson [family DICRANACEAE ] Anisothecium varium (Hedw.) Mitt. [family DICRANACEAE ]
Related name
  • Anisothecium varium
  • Dicranella howei
  • Dicranella fallax
  • Dicranella varia
  • Dicranum varium
  • Dicranella canariensis

Flora

Entry for Dicranella varia (Hedwig) Schimper [family ]
Herbarium
Flora of North America (FNA)
Collection
Flora of North America
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of North America, Vol 27,
Names
Dicranella varia (Hedwig) Schimper [family ], Coroll. Bryol. Eur., 13. 1856,
Dicranum varium Hedwig [family ], Sp. Musc. Frond., 133. 1801
Anisothecium rubrum Lindberg [family ]
Anisothecium varium (Hedwig) Mitten [family ]
Dicranella howei Renauld & Cardot [family ]
Dicranella langloisii Renauld & Cardot [family ]
Dicranella rubra Lindberg [family ]
Treatment Author(s)
Howard A. Crum†
Information
Plants 4–15 mm, dirty to light green or yellowish. Leaves erect-spreading or ± falcate-secund, to 2 mm, gradually narrowed from a lanceolate base to a linear-lanceolate, ± keeled limb, blunt or acute at a narrow tip; margins irregularly recurved above the basal portion of the leaf, entire except at the extreme apex; costa percurrent; distal cells oblong-linear, ca. 6–9:1. Sexual condition dioicous. Seta red or pale, reddish yellow, 5–8(–16) mm. Capsule 0.7–1 mm, shortly ovoid, erect or more often inclined to horizontal, curved-asymmetric, smooth, not strumose at base, contracted below the mouth; annulus none; operculum 0.5–0.7 mm, stoutly rostrate; peristome teeth 330–410 µm, divided 1/3 of its length distally. Spores 14–20 µm, smooth or indistinctly roughened.
Phenology
Capsules mature spring.
Altitude range
low to high elevations;
Distribution
MexicoWest Indies (Haiti)Central America (Honduras)EuropeAsian AfricaAtlantic Islands (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands).USA Ala.USA AlaskaUSA Ariz.USA Calif.USA Colo.USA Conn.USA Del.USA Fla.USA Ga.USA IdahoUSA Ill.USA Ind.USA IowaUSA Kans.USA Ky.USA La.USA Mass.USA Mich.USA Minn.USA Miss.USA Mo.USA Mont.USA Nebr.USA N.H.USA N.J.USA N.Y.USA N.C.USA N.Dak.USA OhioUSA Okla.USA Oreg.USA Pa.USA S.C.USA Tenn.USA Tex.USA Vt.USA Va.USA Wash.USA W.Va.Canada Alta.Canada B.C.Canada Man.Canada N.B.Canada Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.)Canada N.S.Canada Ont.Canada P.E.I.Canada Que.Canada Yukon
Discussion
The nodding, short, curved-asymmetric, smooth capsules of Dicranella varia have a disproportionately large peristome, and the leaf margins are narrowly recurved proximally or scarcely so. Dicranella howei has been segregated in the past (A. C. Crundwell and E. Nyholm 1977) by its plane leaf margins, costa filling the subula (which is accordingly described as 2-stratose beyond mid leaf), and side walls of exothecial cells no thicker than end walls. Dicranella howei intergrades with the species throughout its range from Iran to Great Britain and on the west coast of North America. Crundwell and Nyholm commented on D. howei and D. varia that there are a small portion of intermediate forms that they have seen from several places in Europe, as well as British Columbia and California. Localities reported above for the United States include literature reports for Alaska (I. A. Worley and Z. Iwatsuki 1970), Alabama (J. C. Wilkes 1965), and Montana (E. Lawton 1971). Keying to Dicranella varia is D. staphylina, reported for the flora area by H. L. K. Whitehouse (2001), which differs in lanceolate distal leaves, medial laminal cells 10–14 µm wide, perichaetial leaves long-acuminate from a sheathing base, and capsules erect.

Related Materials