Brachytheciastrum velutinum var. velutinum
Plants green, sometimes yellowish or brownish. Stems creeping, regularly pinnate, branches subcomplanate-foliate. Stem leaves erect-spreading, densely to loosely arranged, straight to slightly curved, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1–1.6 × (0.1–)0.2–0.5(–0.6) mm; margins serrulate to base, serrate to serrulate distally; laminal cells 45–90(–125) × 5–7 µm. Branch leaves ± falcate or occasionally straight. Seta rough throughout.
Habitat: Mineral soil, humus, litter, decaying wood, trunk bases
Elevation: low to high elevations (0-2100 m)
Distribution
Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Yukon, Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Idaho, Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Eurasia, n Africa, Atlantic Islands.
Discussion
Variety velutinum is distinguished from most species in Brachytheciaceae by a small stature, narrow, more or less falcate leaves that usually spread from their bases, and somewhat complanate foliage.
Selected References
None.