Specimen #9: Diphyscium foliosum

Collection #: 9

Scientific Name: Diphyscium foliosum

Phylum: Bryophyta; Bryopsida

Order: Buxbaumiales

Family: Buxbaumiaceae

Common Name: nut moss

Location: Hiram College field station

Habitat: Wet soil by the side of the trail in a bog area

Date of collecting: October 8th

Collector: Cornelia

Notes: With almost no gametophyte; will shoot spores out when being abused.

How did I key this out:

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

                               

Fig.3a Single plant (gametophyte, female and sporophyte) under a dissecting scope

Fig.3b Single plant (gametophyte, male) under a dissecting scope

Even though with mostly sporophytes and has almost no gametophyte, from the picture of the group of the plant sample (Fig.1) and individual plants (Fig.2 and Fig.3), we could still figure that this plant is in the acrocarp growth form. The leaf picture (Fig.4) shows that this specimen is with tongue-shaped leaves with a midrib . By knowing these features, we could now go to the key: KEY II: Acrocarps with Lance-shaped Leaves.

Fig.4 Picture of a single leaf

The following steps is how I went through the keys:
1. (B) Leaves arranged in more than two rows and coming out all around stem; wet plants not flat or not resembling ferns. (See Fig.3b for these facts.) (6)

6. (B) Leaves flat or cupped, lacking long needle tip. (See Fig.4 for this fact.) (7)

7. (A) Plant ≤1.5 cm tall. (See Fig.2 for this fact.) (8)

8. (B) Leaves with rounded tip; capsules 3 mm long, shaped like a wheat kernel, stalkless. (See Fig.2 and Fig.3b for these facts.)(Diphyscium foliosum, P163)

Fig.5 Cell structure

Fig.6a Habitat                                                                                                     Fig.6b Habitat

Description of the species:

Appearance: Upright plants, 1-2 mm tall, form dull dark green brownish, dense patches on soil. The leaves spread wide from the short stems when wet and are curled and crumpled when dry. Easily overlooked or ignored unless the distinctive, nutlike capsules are present.

LEAVES: Narrow tongue- or strap-shaped, 1-4 mm long, with blunt, rounded tips. Fine midrib runs nearly to apex, visible only with high-powered hand lens. Edges are smooth.

Capsules: Asymmetric, shaped like tiny nuts squatting on the ground, 3-4 mm long, brown, with a beaked lid. Ringed by a fringe of fine, spiky, brown, awned leaves. Lacking a stalk. The broad upper surface of the capsule is angled to face maximum sunlight.

Habitat: Shaded soil, often along roads and paths, or on thin soil crusts over rocks.

Microscopic Features: The leaves owe their dark and dull appearance to the multi-layered leaf tips and leaf blades covered top and bottom with bulging and bumpy cells. (See Fig.4 for these facts.)

Collecting and keying story:

Caroline was the first one who saw this species during the field trip, and as she was trying to take a sample for her collection, the capsule shoot some spores at her which made her very excited. I took some sample after her, but the capsules I took didn’t shoot at me as I would expect. I asked Willa about this, and she said that the capsules will shoot spores “if you abuse them enough”, but I didn’t quite understand that until the day when I tried to key this thing out.

On my keying day, I used the tweezers to pick out a single plant from the group. As soon as I squeeze the capsule, it shoots some spores at me.

Alright, I was abusing it. I got it.

Since the spores were shot out, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the spore cells, which is kind of disappointing.

By the way, this was the first tongue-shaped leaf moss I’d ever keyed, so I was kind of excited as well. ^_^

Phylum, order and family name cited from:
http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=DIFO3

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.