Yellow starry feather-moss
Scientific name: Campylium stellatum
Family: Amblystegiaceae
Other common names;
Flowering time:
Height:
Growing conditions: wet ground
Nectar source for:
Food source for:
Description
A dioicous moss, maturing in early summer. It has declined in the lowlands of England due to the destruction of fens and wetlands.
How to identify: This medium-sized moss has erect, pale or yellow-green, sparsely to moderately branched shoots typically 2–3 cm long. Stem leaves are mostly 1.8– 3 mm long, with an erect and somewhat sheathing base, and a tip that is widely spreading or strongly curved away from the stem, often at right angles to it, giving the shoots a star-like appearance when seen from above. The leaves taper evenly or rather abruptly from the base to the tip, which forms two-fifths to two-thirds of the leaf length. An important clue to identity is the channelled and sometimes almost tubular form of the leaf tip. It appears to have no nerve, and there are fairly distinct, enlarged cells at the leaf base. Capsules are rare.
How to propagate: It is likely that fertilization and sporophyte development, with resultant formation of a stalk/seta with a terminal capsule, occurs between winter and summer, with mature, meiotically-produced, often airborne spores, being released in summer or fall or that same year.
Family: Amblystegiaceae
Other common names;
Flowering time:
Height:
Growing conditions: wet ground
Nectar source for:
Food source for:
Description
A dioicous moss, maturing in early summer. It has declined in the lowlands of England due to the destruction of fens and wetlands.
How to identify: This medium-sized moss has erect, pale or yellow-green, sparsely to moderately branched shoots typically 2–3 cm long. Stem leaves are mostly 1.8– 3 mm long, with an erect and somewhat sheathing base, and a tip that is widely spreading or strongly curved away from the stem, often at right angles to it, giving the shoots a star-like appearance when seen from above. The leaves taper evenly or rather abruptly from the base to the tip, which forms two-fifths to two-thirds of the leaf length. An important clue to identity is the channelled and sometimes almost tubular form of the leaf tip. It appears to have no nerve, and there are fairly distinct, enlarged cells at the leaf base. Capsules are rare.
How to propagate: It is likely that fertilization and sporophyte development, with resultant formation of a stalk/seta with a terminal capsule, occurs between winter and summer, with mature, meiotically-produced, often airborne spores, being released in summer or fall or that same year.