Mnium stellare
Sp. Musc. Frond., 191, plate 45, figs. 1–4. 1801.
Plants 0.5–2 (–5) cm. Stems red or reddish-brown. Leaves green to dark green, slightly contorted and undulate when dry, ovate-elliptic or elliptic, 1.5–2.5 mm; base short to long-decurrent; margins green, 1-stratose, entire or weakly toothed distally, rarely to below mid leaf, teeth single, small, blunt (often rounded), occasionally somewhat paired; apex acute, rounded-acute, or obtuse, sometimes short-apiculate; costa ending well before apex, distal abaxial surface smooth; medial laminal cells ± isodiametric or short-elongate, (15–) 20–32 µm, slightly smaller near margins, not in diagonal rows, sometimes in weak longitudinal rows, weakly collenchymatous, blue postmortal color present in cells; marginal cells indistinctly differentiated from medial cells, short-linear or rhomboidal, in 1 (or 2) rows. Sexual condition dioicous. Seta single. Capsule pale to dark-brown, 2–3 mm; operculum conic-mammillate; exostome yellowish-brown. Spores 20–29 µm.
Phenology: Capsules mature late spring.
Habitat: Base of trees, stumps, soil banks, soil over rock, moist shaded sites
Elevation: low to moderate elevations
Distribution
![V28 363-distribution-map.gif](/w/images/1/17/V28_363-distribution-map.gif)
B.C., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., Que., Ala., Ark., Ga., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Europe, Asia, Africa
Discussion
Selected References
None.