Bryum amblyodon, Linnaea 42: 293. 1879. -- Bryum biddlecomiae Aust., Bot. Gaz. 2: 110. 1877. -- Bryum inclinatum (Brid.) Bland., Ubers. Mecklenb. Moos. 6. 1809. -- Pohlia inclinata Brid., Musc. Rec. 2(3): 144. 1803.

   Bryum stenotrichum C. Mull., Flora 70: 219. 1887.

   Plants erect in green to whitish green wefts, with conspicuous reddish stems, to 1 cm high. Leaves shallowly concave, ovate lanceolate to ovate with acuminate and awned apices, to 3 mm long, 2.5–3.5: 1, closely erect spreading to imbricate when moist, little changed upon drying, not plicate. Median laminal cells rhomboidal to elliptic-hexagonal with walls thick (lumen: wall ratio 4–6: 1), longer and narrower near costa, completely smooth, not pitted, to 15 µm wide. Basal and alar cells strongly reddened, isodiametric to short rectangular (1–2: 1), to 25 µm broad. Margins not decurrent, plane throughout, nearly entire or minutely serrulate at immediate apex. Limbidium unistratose throughout, poorly or not at all demarcated, unistratose throughout. Costa mostly deep red at base but becoming pale brown distally, excurrent to long excurrent. Adaxial cells of the costa rectangular, to 4: 1, rather thick-walled with lumen: wall ratio 6–8: 1. Axillary hairs 4–5 cells long, to 70 µm, with a short basal brown cell and with all cells thin-walled and of equal length. Outer cortical cells in surface view to 20 µm wide, rectangular with parallel lateral walls, about 6–10: 1. Rhizoids coarsely papillose, brown, sparingly branched. Macronematal apparati inconspicuous and isodiametric, to 30 µm wide; macronematal rhizoids to 30 µm wide at insertion, strongly papillose. Micronemata abundant short and sparingly branched, nearly smooth, to 15 µm in basal diameter. Stem cross-section round to rounded-pentagonal, with a central strand, with hyaline and leptodermous inner corticals abruptly transitting to a single layer of strongly pachydermous, red-brown outer cortical cells, without a hyaloderm. Gemmae not seen in our specimens.

   Synoicous but often difficult to demonstrate because of the earlier development of the antheridia. Perichaetial leaves similar to the vegetative leaves. Seta yellow-brown to red-brown, smooth, erect but geniculate distally, to 20 mm long. Capsule with a moderately well-differentiate neck up to 1/2 of urn length. Urn red-brown, to 2.5 mm long, clavate to pyriform, pendent, neither suicate nor strumose. Operculum short conic to apiculate. Annulus prominent, revoluble, with inflated and thin-walled cells. Suboral exothecial cells to 25 µm broad, quadrate to transversely elongate in up to 4 rows. Exothecial cells at middle of urn mostly rectangular but often with a jig-saw puzzle form, to 3: 1, to 25 µm broad, irregularly arranged, rather thin-walled. Exostome yellow brown, to 400 µm long, not at all shouldered, very finely papillose and with low dorsal lamellae. Endostome segments about as long as the exostome, with basal membrane comprising about 1/2 of total length, and with segments smooth to very lightly papillose, with broad, often nearly round perforations along keel with 1–3 poorly developed cilia without appendiculae. Calyptra cucullate, mostly shed before capsule maturity. Spores to 25 µm, finely papillose.

Vouchers: Fresno Co.: below Kearsarge Pass, Kings Canyon National Park, Shevock 14328; Humboldt Co.: Aikens Creek at road to Fish Lake, Norris 56387; Riverside Co.: Highway 243 near milepost 25.10, San Jacinto Mountains, San Bernardino National Forest, Harpel 1819 (pers. herb.); Sierra Co.: Chapman Creek Campground, Tahoe National Forest, Tavares 585 (UC) [determined by Andrews]; Tehama Co.: Beegum Basin north of Yolla Bolly Mountain, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Norris 57034.

Literature: Spence 1988a. As Bryum inclinatum Lesquereux 1868; Watson 1880. As Bryum stenotrichum Crum and Anderson 1981; Harthill et al. 1979; Koch 1950a, 1958; Lawton 1971; McGrew 1976; Strid 1974.

Illustration References: Crum and Anderson 1981; Ignatov and Ignatova 2003; Lawton 1971; Ochyra 1998a; Zolotov 2000.

No illustrations found in database.

Elevation by latitude plot for Bryum amblyodon
   in California