Specimen #9 The White Cushion Moss

Fig. 1 Leaves of the white cushion moss.

Fig. 2 White cushion moss next to a quarter. 

Fig. 3 16X White cushion moss.

Specimen 9

Name: Leucobryum glaucum The White Cushion Moss
Family: Leucobryaceae

Collection Date: Sept 26, 2011

Habitat: damp rock

Location: South Chagrin Reservation, Ohio

Description:
Collector: Jennifer Friedler

Key used: Conard, H.S. and P.L. Redfearn, Jr. 1979. How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts 2^nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Mass.

Keying Steps:

Introduction key pg. 19

1a. has stem and leaves; erect, ascending, prostrate, or hanging...2

2b. No hayline cells...3

3b. Green...pg. 28. Order Bryidae

Key to Families/Genera Bryidae pg. 28

1a. Whitish with 2 kinds of cells throughout leaf, large hyaline cells in 2-3 layers and small green cells between...2

2a. Leaves crowded on upper side...pg. 82 Leucobryum

Key to Genus Leucobryum pg. 82

1a. leaves 5-8mm long...Leucobryum glaucum

“Whitish plants in hemisphaerical cushion 2-9cm or more high, on soil, humus, rotten logs, tree bases, and moist vertical rocks, especially in forests, Newfoundland to Minnesota and South to the gulf states” (Conrad 86).

Links:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LEGL19

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200001035

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/white_cushion_moss.htm