Fissidens taxifolius Hedwig 1801

Fissidens taxifolius Hedw. Sp. Muse. 155. 1801
Plants Ught green, darker with age, 5-20 mm. high; stems rather stout, sparingly branched from the base; leaves close, overlapping, in many pairs, largest in the middle of the stem, ± 2 mm. long, oblong-cult r if orm, roundedobtuse and apiculate to subacute, finely and evenly crenulate above with projecting cell-angles, the costa strong, in weU developed mature plants excurrent into a short mucro, in lower leaves and on depauperate or tmdeveloped plants often merely percurrent; vaginant laminae one-half to two-thirds the length of the leaf; dorsal lamina ending abruptly, usuaUy reaching the stem; upper median leaf-ceUs 7-10 ju, bulgingmamiUose, smaller and often somewhat Hghter-colored at the margins, larger near the costa; perichaetial leaves often with terminal and dorsal lamina narrow, Unear or sword-shaped, or almost lacking; cf buds on short branches rooting at base; sporophyte axiUary near the base; seta 8-15 mm. long, ascending, flexuous; capsule oblong, contracted under the mouth when dry, the urn db 1.5 mm. long, somewhat incUned to nearly pendulous, mostly somewhat 59. F. cristatus.
60. F. adiantoides. curved and asymmetric, the exothecial cells oblong to subquadrate, incrassate, with many rows of smaller very incrassate isodiametric cells below the mouth; calyptra covering nearly half the urn, split on one side; operculum conic, long, obhquely rostrate, the beak fully the length of the urn; peristometeeth deep red, the divisions strongly nodtalose and marked with very fine oblique lines between the nodes; spores 15-20 m in diameter, maturing from November to March.
Type locality: Europe.
Distribution: On damp shaded soil; Canada and the eastern United States, south to central Florida and Missouri; Carr Peak, Huachuca Mts., Arizona {Goodding).