2.
Rhabdoweisia crispata
(Dickson ex Withering) Lindberg, Acta. Soc. Sci. Fenn. 10: 22. 1872.
Bryum crispatum
Dickson ex Withering, Syst. Arr. Brit. Pl. ed. 4, 3: 816. 1801;
Rhabdoweisia denticulata
(Bridel) Bruch, Schimper & W. Gümbel
Plants
0.5-1 cm, occasionally taller.
Leaves
2-3.5 mm, crisped when dry, narrowly lanceolate, gradually tapering to an acute apex, margins serrulate with small teeth distally, distal cells subquadrate, 10-14 µm wide, often wider than long, somewhat incrassate.
Seta
2-4.5 mm.
Capsule
0.7-1 mm; peristome teeth linear to linear-lanceolate, broadened at base, smooth to striolate, perforate or irregular.
Spores
15-21 µm.
Capsules mature summer. Mainly on dampish, shaded cliffs; 1-2500 m; Greenland; B.C., Man., Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), N.W.T., N.S., Ont., Que., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ark., Colo., Conn., Ga., Ill., Ky., Maine, Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Pa., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wis.; South America (Bolivia); Europe; Asia; Pacific Islands (Hawaii, Juan Fernández Islands).
In eastern North America,
Rhabdoweisia crispata
exhibits a wide distribution from the coast to more continental areas, but on the Pacific coast it is primarily in near-coastal oceanic climates. It is distinguished from
R. crenulata
mainly on the basis of leaf shape: narrowly lanceolate and gradually acute in the former, lingulate and broadly acute to obtuse in the latter. The distal leaf cells of
R. crispata
are rapidly rehydrated, and generally subquadrate and broader than long while those of
R. crenulata
are slowly rehydrated, remaining somewhat collapsed until hydrated, and are quadrate to hexagonal. The leaves of
R. crispata
are serrulate with small teeth, while
R. crenulata
has dentate leaves with larger, widely spaced teeth.
