Identification notes
Cephalozia lunulifolia shares the habitat preferences of C.catenulata, but it generally more widespread. It is typically a plant of rotting logs but may also be found on moist peaty banks or thin humus-rich soils over acid rock, and sometimes on Sphagnum or Leucobryum. It is also a slender plant, being less than 1mm across, with leaves up to 0.5mm. The leaf lobes take up about 25% of the width of the leaf and tend to be more incurved and pincer-like than those of C.catenulata. They are shallowly obliquely inserted so tend to lie flat like those of C. connivens, and can be decurrent. The cells are generally larger (over 25μm wide) but not as large as in C.connivens.
The cells of C.lunulifolia are generally thin-walled and hyaline, so the plant lacks the opaque brownish quality of C.catenulata and C.macrostachya. It is often gemmiferous and the female bracts are lobed but not toothed.
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