Kiaeria falcata I. Hagen 1915

Kiaeria falcata is often found on horizontal rock surfaces in late-summer snowmelt areas. It grows in denser tufts than any other species of the genus. The epithet “falcata” refers to its falcate leaves, a character shared with K. starkei separating both species from K. blyttii. It is distinguished from K. starkei by its shorter, non-ribbed capsules and horizontal rather than vertical rock habitat.

Plants in low, dense tufts, green, dull. Stems 1-2(-4) cm. Leaves mostly falcate-secund, lanceolate, gradually subulate, 2-3(-4 mm), margins distally 1-stratose; costa 50-60 µm wide at base; distal laminal cells mostly rectangular (1-2:1), occasionally subquadrate, 7-9 µm wide, slightly papillose; basal laminal cells elongate, smooth, sometimes porose, alar cells gradually differentiated. Perichaetial leaves similar to the cauline. Perigonia sessile, located just below or occasionally distant from perichaetia. Capsule not ribbed when dry, urn 0.8-1.2 mm. Spores 12-19 µm.

Plants slender, soft, 1–3(–5) cm high, yellowish green to brownish green or blackish green, somewhat glossy, in loose or compact tufts. Stems creeping or ascending at base with erect upper stems and branches, radiculose at base. Leaves homomallous, falcate-secund, hardly altered when dry, up to 3 mm long, lanceolate from an oblong-ovate base, gradually tapered to a channeled subulate apex; margins plane, entire or serrulate near the apex; costa slender, percurrent or shortly excurrent, papillose at back near the apex; upper cells quadrate to short-rectangular or rhombic, finely papillose; basal cells rectangular to linear-rectangular, smooth; alar cells quadrate, brownish, intergrading with basal cells, not clearly distinct. Autoicous. Androecia just below the perichaetia. Perichaetial leaves large, sheathing at base. Setae ca. 1.0 cm long, yellowish brown or reddish brown; capsules curved, slightly inclined, ovoid, slightly strumose, somewhat furrowed, not striate when dry; exothecial cells mostly less than twice as long as wide, strongly thick-walled; opercula ca. 0.7 mm long, obliquely rostrate; annuli simple, in 1–2 (–3) rows of small cells, persistent; peristome teeth reddish brownish, 2–3-divided to the middle, papillose and vertically striolate or pitted striolate below on the dorsal surface. Spores 11–16 µm in diameter, smooth.

Distribution: China, Japan, Europe, and North America.

Habitat: mostly on wet limestone in alpine regions.

Dicranum falcatum Hedwig, Sp. Musc. Frond., 150. 1801; Arctoa falcata (Hedwig) Loeske

Kiaeria falcata là một loài Rêu trong họ Dicranaceae. Loài này được (Hedw.) I. Hagen mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1915.