Kiaeria starkei I. Hagen 1915

Kiaeria starkei occurs frequently on vertical rock surfaces, and is distinguished by the sessile male inflorescence, which is located close to the perichaetia. It can be separated in the field from the more terrestrial K. blyttii by its shiny, falcate leaves. Subalpine forms of K. falcata are more commonly found on horizontal rock surfaces and do not have grooved sporangia.

Plants in loose tufts, green to yellow, mostly shiny. Stems 1-2(-4) cm. Leaves mostly falcate-secund, curled at tips when dry, lanceolate, gradually subulate, 2-4.5 mm, margins distally 1-stratose; costa 50-60 µm wide at base; distal laminal cells mostly elongate (2-4:1), occasionally subquadrate, 7-9 µm wide, smooth or weakly mammillose-roughened; basal laminal cells elongate, smooth, sometimes porose, alar cells strongly inflated and differentiated from the bordering small quadrate cells. Perichaetial leaves similar to the cauline. Perigonia sessile, located just below perichaetia. Capsule distinctly ribbed when dry, urn 1.3-2 mm. Spores 13-21 µm.

Plants small to medium-sized, 1–2(–6) cm high, green to yellowish green, somewhat shiny, in loose tufts. Stems erect or ascending, radiculose at base, simple or branched. Leaves erect to falcate-secund when wet, flexuose when dry, 2.0–4.5 mm long, lanceolate from a narrowly ovate base, gradually subulate to the apex; margins plane, entire or serrulate near the apex, sometimes bistratose; costa slender, shortly excurrent; upper cells quadrate to rectangular, sometimes mammillose; basal cells quadrate to short-rectangular, elongate near the costa, sometimes porose; alar cells distinct, large, thin-walled, rounded-quadrate. Autoicous. Androecia immediately below the perichaetia. Perichaetial leaves enlarged, 4–5 mm long, sheathing at base, filiform near the apex. Setae 8–11(–15) mm long, yellowish when young, reddish when old; capsules ellipsoid to subcylindric, curved, inclined, distinctly strumose, urns 1.5–2.0 mm long; exothecial cells mostly twice as long as wide, thin-walled; opercula obliquely long-rostrate, nearly as long as the urns; annuli compound, in 2–3 rows of large cells, deciduous; peristome teeth divided to the middle, vertically striolate on the dorsal surface. Spores 14–21 µm in diameter, finely papillose.

Distribution: China, Japan, Russian Far East, Europe, and North America.

Habitat: on soil or rocks.

Dicranum starkei Weber & D. Mohr, Neues Bot. Taschenb. Anfänger Wiss. Apothekerkunst 1807: 189. 1807; Arctoa starkei (Weber & D. Mohr) Loeske