Vascular Plants of the Gila Wilderness

Presented in Association with the
Western New Mexico University Department of Natural Sciences

Dicranoweisia cirrata (Hedwig) Lindberg ex Milde

Family: Dicranaceae

Status: Native

Synonyms:
Weissia cirrata Hedwig
Didymodon hinckleyi Bartram

Dicranoweisia cirrata typically is found at middle to upper elevations in the forest growing on rotting stumps and logs. It is a small moss, smaller than the very similar Dicranum montanum. Dicranoweisia cirrata has almost no stem, whereas Dicranum montanum has more of a stem. Also, the gemmae frequently found at the base and abaxial surface of the leaves of Dicranoweisia cirrata are not found on Dicranum montanum or Dicranoweisia crispula. All have strongly crisped dry leaves that unfold when wet. D. cirrata is best differentiated from D. crispula on leaf cross-section-- D. cirrata is mostly unistratose, while D. crispula has bistratose margins and bistratose streaks in the lamina. Also, D. crispula has longitudinal cuticular ridges that appear as papillae on leaf cross section; these ridges are absent in D. cirrata.
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Dicranoweisia cirrata, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of leaf, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of leaf base, Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of capsule, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of leaf cross section, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021



Dicranoweisia cirrata, photomicrograph of leaf gemma, photo Kelly Allred, Sacramento Mtns., 16 Springs, October 6, 2021


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