Ceratodon-purpureus_8

Description:

Ceratodon purpureus (Hedw.) Brid.Family: DitrichaceaeEN: Redshank, Fire Moss, Purple Horn Toothed Moss, DE: Purpurstieliges HornzahnmossSlo.: krlatni rogatecIn fairly moist state.Dat.: Nov. 17. 2021Lat.: 46.360133 Long.: 13.69954Code: Bot_1418/2021_DSC1418.Habitat: Abandoned alpine pasture; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect; calcareous, colluvial, skeletal ground with very thin soil layer; open, dry, sunny place; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 6-8 deg C, elevation 640 m (2.100 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: gravelly and sandy soil.Place: Lower Trenta valley, right bank of river Soa, Na Melu place, near the abandoned farmhouse Strgulc, Trenta 47, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC. Comment (pertains to the pictures of the Flicker album Ceratodon purpureus): Ceratodon purpureus is a very common moss and a true cosmopolitan species. It is found worldwide. It loves dry, low competition and high light places, but inhabits also many different, natural and man-made substrates, some of them quite exotic like old skulls of animals and old boots. Ceratodon purpureus is able to tolerate much higher pollution levels than most other mosses. It is very variable, particularly in color. However, red color is most often dominant (see pictures 4. and 7.) except when it is very moist and without red setae. Then it is vividly green (see pictures 8. and 10.). It is about 3 cm high and usually abundantly fertile. One can recognize it by narrowly triangular leaves, which have strongly recurved margins almost from the base to the tip and a strong nerve extending just to the tip of the leaf. The leaf cells are nearly square. The setae are red and the capsules are strongly furrowed when dry (see picture 5b.). Ref.:(1) V.Wirth, R.Dll, Farbatlas Flechten und Moose, Ulmer (2000), p 234.(2) I. Atherton, S. Bosanquet, M. Lawley, eds., Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland, British Bryological Society, (2010), p 354(3) M. Nebel, G.Philippi, eds., Die Moose Baden-Wrttembergs, Vol: 1. (2000), p 199.(4) M. Lth, Mosses of Europe A Photographic Flora. ML Publ., Vol.2., Freiburg, Germany (2019), p 365.