Specimen #8: Entodon seductrix

Collection #: 8

Scientific Name: Entodon seductrix

Phylum: Bryophyta; Bryopsida

Order: Hypnales

Family: Entodontaceae

Common Name: cord glaze moss

Location: Hiram Field Station

Habitat: On the surface of a log

Date of collecting: October 8th

Collector: Cornelia

Notes: Cute sphagnum-like plant with giant capsules with seta

How did I key this out:

Fig.1 Group picture

 Fig.2 Single plant

It might be a little bit hard to tell, but this plant is in the pleurocarp growth form. A clue will be that the seta grew out from the middle of nowhere on the plant (Fig.2).In addition, the leaf picture shows a clear ovate shape without a midrib (Fig.3). As a result of this, we could now go to the key: KEY IX: Pleurocarps with ovate leaves without midrib.

Fig.3 Single leaf

The following steps is how I went through the keys:

1. (B) Branches not flattened; leaves appear to come off all around stem, more or less 3-dimensional. (See Fig.2 for this fact.) (12)

12. (B) Leaves mostly a single color (See Fig.3 for this fact.); capsules either on stalks, or surrounding leaves not white-fringed. (See Fig.2 for this fact.) (13)

13. (B) Stem green to brown, not particularly contrasting with leaves; mosses of various sizes. (See Fig.2 for this fact.) (17)

17. (B) Plants of dry to very moist habitats, not submerged or kept constantly wet. (See Fig.5 for this fact.) (23)

23. (B) Branches appear cylindrical, at least when dry; leaves either held close to stem and overlapping when dry or if leaf bases wide-spreading then strongly cupped with tips curved back toward stem (some species with branches looking very different when wet). (See Fig.2 for these facts.) (26)

26. (B) Leaves 1-2 mm long; plants midsized. (29)

29. (B) Plants growing on soil, humus, rock, rotting wood, or tree bases; dry leaves overlapping and held tightly to stem or spreading outward up to 45°, when wet not much changed. (See Fig.5 for this fact.) (31)

31. (B) Leaves crowded and overlapping, ovate to ovate-elliptic with short tips; branches worm-like. (See Fig.2 for this fact.) (32)

32. (A) Capsules cylindrical, 2-3.5 mm long; leaves 1-2 mm long, abruptly contracted to very short point. (See Fig.2 and Fig.4 for this fact.) (Entodon seductrix, P291)

Fig.4 Single plant with ruler

Fig.5a Habitat

Fig.5b Habitat

Fig.6 Overall cell structure of the bottom of a leaf

Description of the species:

Appearance: Very shiny, green or yellowish, wormlike moss that creeps horizontally, forming flat silky patches. Leaves are densely crowded, overlapping, scale-like, and form tightly cylindrical, or sometimes slightly flattened branches. Wet leaves are translucent, revealing the green to brown stems beneath. Dried, the moss looks like glossy embroidery floss.

Leaves: Ovate-elliptic, 1-2 mm long, coming to an abrupt sharp point, very cupped. Midrib is lacking. Edges are smooth.

Capsules: Cylindrical, 2-4 mm long, upright to barely tilted, with a beaked lid. Stalk is 5-16 mm tall and rusty red.

Habitat: Rocks, rotting logs, at base of trees in airy, dry woods or thickets. (Fig.5)

Microscopic Features: Many small, square cells at lower outside corners of leaf, otherwise cells are long and skinny. (See Fig.6, Fig.7 and Fig.8 for these facts.)

Fig.7 Square cells at lower outside corners of leaf

Fig.8 Long skinny cells in other parts of the leaf

Collecting and keying story:

This is another sample/result for my "whenever I see a moss with a sporophyte, I want to collect it" problem. You can see from the habitat pictures above about how beautiful the capsules of these plants were. Besides, this specimen caught my attention because it has the worm-like branches that look like a sphagnum, but I knew exactly it wasn’t since it has these sporophyte with a seta and a giant cylindrical capsule as well. 

Phylum, order and family name cited from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entodon_seductrix

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.