Bruchia Moss

As discussed in detail by A. E. Rushing (1986), Bruchia flexuosa is the most widely distributed and most morphologically variable species of the genus.

Distal leaves long-subulate beyond an ovate, obovate, or elliptic base, 0.9-3.1 mm, leaf base usually strongly differentiated in shape; distal laminal cells short- to long-rectangular. Sexual condition paroicous. Seta 0.5-3 mm. Capsule neck short, obovate. Spores spinose or occasionally spinose-reticulate. Calyptra smooth.

Phascum flexuosum Schwägrichen, Sp. Musc. Frond. Suppl. 2(1,1): 101. 1823; Bruchia brevicollis Lesquereux & James; B. donnellii Austin; B. sullivantii Austin

Bruchia flexuosa (Sw.) C. Miill. Bot. Zeit. 5: 99. 1847
Phascum flexHosum Sw. Adnot. Bot. 75. 1829. Sporledera Beyrichijna Hampe, Linnaea 11: 279. 1837. Phascum Beyrichianum Schwaegr. Suppl. 4: pi. 301. 1842. Bruchia flexuosa nigricans SuU. & Lesq. Musci Bor. Am. 33. 1856. Bruchia Beyrichiana SuU. Ic. Muse. Suppl. 25. 1874. Bruchia brevicollis Lesq. & James, Man. 47. 1884.
Plants gregarious; stems usually 2-3 mm. high, occasionally taller, 8-10 mm., slender and flexuose, rarely branching by subapical innovations: lower leaves distant, recurved, about 1 mm. long; upper leaves 1.5-2 mm. long, crowded at the apex of the stems, broader and slightly serrate at the base with lax oblong cells, suddenly contracted into a straight or flexuose point, furrowed above, smooth or slightly roughened on the back by the thickening of the short ends of the cells, apex entire or toothed; costa thick, nearly filling the awn; margins incurved; perichaetial leaves longest, reaching the base of the capsule or beyond. Paroicous: antheridia without paraphyses, 2-3, in the axil of an upper leaf, naked or rarely bracted, occasionally even dioicous and terminal on separate plants: seta erect, bent or ciu^ed, 1-2 mm. long: calyptra smooth, lobed: capsule 1-1.5 mm. long, ovoid, yellow or brown when matiu-e, apiculate with a sharp beak, the neck short, 0.5 mm. long, abrupt, stomatose: spores 25-35 n in diameter, densely spinose, not reticulate, maturing in spring and summer.
Type locality: Pennsylvania.
Distribution: On bare ground, old fields, etc., Maine to Florida, Minnesota, and Louisiana.