Mount Rainier National Park (Nature Notes)


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MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK NATURE NOTES
Vol. XVII	March - June - 1939	Nos. 1 & 2

Field Key to 3 orders and 22 families of mosses
Native to Mount Rainier National Park

-oOo-

KEY TO THE ORDERS OF MOSSES.

1-Mosses with whitish or light green leaves, sometimes tinged within red; usually growing in bogs or wet places; stems erect, much and compactly branched at the tip
... Order 1 (SPHAGNALES,) The Peat Mosses...2.
1-Mosses with blackish or very dark leaves, sometimes at highest elevations and open exposures appearing brown; growing on rocks, stems erect, very short. (10 mm.)
... Order 2 (ANDREAEALES,) The Rock Mosses...3.
1-Mosses with yellow-green, green, dark green, or blackish leaves; growing in various locations as wet or dry ground, rocks, trees, decayed wood, or in water; stems erect, prostrate or ascending
... Order 3 (BRYALES,) The True Mosses...4.
KEY TO THE FAMILIES OF MOSSES.
2-Plants as described under order Sphagnales above; which order contains a single family
... Family 1 Sphagnaceae.
3-Plants as described under Andreaeales above; which order contains a single family
... Family 2 Andreaeaceae.
4-Stems usually erect or ascending and usually not branched. The fruit is borne at the end of a stem or well developed branch
... Acrocarpous Mosses 5.
4-Stems prostrate or ascending, usually much branched. Fruiting portion always on the side of the stem or on a very short lateral branch
... Pleurocarpous Mosses 18.
Acrocarpi
5-Acrocarpous mosses with leaves coarse and wiry	...6.
5-Acrocarpous mosses with leaves soft, not coarse and wiry	...7.
6-Leaves having lamellae on the upper surface; teeth of peristome not jointed, 32 to 64 in number
... Family 5 Polytrichaceae.
6-Leaves lacking lamellae on upper surface; teeth jointed, sixteen in number
... Family 14 Timmiaceae.
7-Mosses dark green or black in color; growing on trees or rocks	...8.
7-Mosses green to yellow-green; growing on soil, rocks, tree bases (seldom on trunks), fallen logs	...9.
8-Plants usually growing on tree trunks, or dry rocks, in loose tufts rarely with hair-pointed leaves. Peristome double. (exceptions)
... Family 11 Orthotrichaceae.
8-Plants growing on rocks in dense tufts or cushions on dry rocks, or in loose tufts on wet rocks. Leaves frequently hair-pointed. Peristome single
... Family 8 Grimmiaceae.
9-Peculiar looking plants with reduced stem and small nerveless leaves. Grow on rotten wood at elevation of Longmire
... Family 3 Buxbaumiaceae.
9-Normal appearing plants	...10.
10-Peristome consisting of four unjointed teeth
... Family 4 Tetraphidaceae.
10-Peristome of 16 to 32 pointed teeth	...11.
11-Peristome single	...12.
11-Peristome double	...15.
12-Calyptra large, glossy, completely covering the capsule and usually persistent; capsule erect
... Family 10 Encalyptaceae.
12-Calyptra not large and not usually persistent	...13.
13-Leaves papillose
... Family 9 Tortulaceae.
13-Leaves not papillose	...14.
14-Teeth of peristome from low basal membrane, usually divided more than half-way to base
... Family 6 Dicranaceae.
14-Teeth divided nearly to base into two filiform legs
... Family 7 Ditrichaceae.
15-Capsules distinctly furrowed when dry	...16.
15-Capsules not distinctly furrowed	...17.
16-Capsules symmetrical; mouth one-sided
... Family 12 Funariaceae.
16-Capsules globose or ovate, usually inclined at right angles to the seta
... Family 15 Bartramiaceae.
16-Capsules longer than broad; plants growing on rotten wood or in boggy places
... Family 13 Aulacomniaceae.
17-Upper and lower leaves much alike; leaf cells usually long and narrow; plants small
... Family 16 Bryaceae.
17-Upper and lower leaves different; leaf cells short end broad; plants usually robust
... Family 17 Mniaceae.
PLEUROCARPI
18-Plants submerged or floating in running water; capsules inmersed or emergent but never long exserted
... Family 22 Fontinalaceae.
18-Plants on rocks, dry soil, tree trunks or bases (if aquatic, as Hygrophypnum, not usually slender or floating, and with capsules on long setae)	...19.
19-Leaf cells short, the length seldom as much as three times the width	...20.
19-Leaf cells long, more than three times as long as wide
... Family 18 Hypnaceae.
19-Leaf cells at basal margin rounded, subquadrate; median basal leaves elongated; on trees
... Family 21 Cryphaeaceae.
20-Leaves papillose; plants not much flattened
... Family 19 Leskeaceae.
20-Leaves not papillose; plants much flattened; leaves appearing two-ranked
... Family 20 Neckeraceae.

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01-Aug-2002