Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris
“Pylaisiadelpha moss”
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris near Alum Creek in Delaware County, Ohio. October 16, 2012.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris at Tar Hollow State Forest, Ross County, Ohio. August 26, 2007.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris at Bohannon Woods in Delaware County, Ohio. February 19, 2011.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris at Bohannon Woods in Delaware County, Ohio. March 15, 2013.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris at Bohannon Woods in Delaware County, Ohio. March 15, 2013.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris March 15, 2013. Bohannon Woods.
Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris leaf. An axillary hair can be seen clinging to the base of the center of the leaf. These several celled filaments are sometimes useful in identification, and are found in all mosses.
How to recognize Rapunzel moss: Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris is a small pleurocarp which grows in glossy green mats. The plant is irregularly to pinnately branched, with stem leaves from 0.6 to 1.4mm long. These leaves are shaped like narrow lances with some of them bent to one side; the margins are bent back at the base and there is no midrib, although sometimes you can find a short double rib under the microscope. The leaf tip margin varies from very toothy to almost none, and the rest of the leaf is either slightly toothed or not. Under the microscope the alar cells are yellow to clear and enlarged in one or two rows at the leaf base and there are 3 to 7 firm-walled squarish cells extending up above the alar cells along the margin. Sometimes you can find clusters of brood body filaments which may be branched, growing from the stem by the base of a leaf. If there is a capsule present it will be symmetric and erect.
Where to find Rapunzel moss: Pylaisiadelpha tenuirostris grows at bases of trees and on rocks or logs.
