Specimen #10: Thuidium delicatulum

Collection #: 10

Scientific Name: Thuidium delicatulum

Phylum: Bryophyta; Bryopsida

Order: Hypnales

Family: Thuidiaceae

Common Name: delicate fern moss

Location: Camp Asbury, Hiram

Habitat: Bottom of wet wood

Date of collecting: August 30th

Collector: Cornelia

Notes: Feathery mosses, very common

How did I key this out:

Fig.1 Group picture                                                              Fig.2 Single plant with measurement

From the picture of the group of the plant sample (Fig.1) and individual plant (Fig.2), it is pretty obvious that this plant is in the pleurocarp growth form. Sorry that I didn't have a picture of the leaf. These single branches were the smallest thing I could every get from the plant with a pair of tweezers. But this picture still clearly shows that this specimen is with ovate-shaped leaves with a midrib. By knowing these features, we could now go to the key: KEY VIII: Pleurocarps with ovate leaves with midrib.

Fig.3 Picture of a single branch

Fig.4 The way seta attached to the branch

Fig.5 Capsule

Fig.6 Cell structure

The following steps is how I went through the keys:

1. (A) Plants pinnately branched (like a feather or fern frond). (2)

2. (A) Stems 2-3x pinnate. (3)

3. (A) Stem leaves not pleated, tip held close to stem when dry; plants often 3x pinnate, green to yellow. (Thuidium delicatulum, P271)

Description of the species:

Appearance: Plants resemble delicate, miniature ferns, forming mats of dull green to yellow green over the forest floor. Stems are 3-10 cm long and regularly twice to three times pinnate. Leaves are sparse revealing green fuzz on stems and big branches, but are very densely clustered and overlapping on the small (terminal) branches. Leaves are held dose to stem when dry, and spread out somewhat when wet.

Leaves: Stem leaves are about 1 mm long, egg-shaped triangular, tapering to a strong pointed tip, unpleated. Midrib extends to tip. Edges are smooth and rolled down. Branch leaves are similarly shaped but much smaller.

Capsules: Long cylindrical, inclined to horizontal, curved gently, 2-4 mm long; lid is long-beaked. Stalks are 2-4 cm tall and rust-colored.

Habitat: Forest soil, rotting logs, and rocks; prefers damp shady sites.

Microscopic Features: The midrib peters out just below the tip of leaf. Each cell has at least one bump. Tiny, green, treadlike paraphyllia cover the stems and branches between the leaves. (See Fig.6 for these facts.)

Collecting and keying story:
This was actually the first thing, I think, that I collected from my first field trip.
I really thought that the tiny little buds I picked off and put on the slide was a leaf at the beginning. When I put that on a slide and observed it, I was surprised that  it was actually a branch with even smaller leaves on there (Fig.3). There's no way I could get a single leaf off.
So I just observed the branches, and it helps.

Phylum, order and family name cited from:
http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=THDE10

Keys cited from:

  Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians by Karl B. McKnight, Joseph R. Rohrer, Kirsten McKnight Ward and Warren J. Perdrizet. This book is in the series of the Princeton Field Guides and was published by Princeton University Press with copyright @ 2013.