Identification notes
This is our commonest Cephaloziella species, being relatively tolerant of desiccation and being found in open acid habitats such as on peaty or gravelly soil. It tends to avoid very wet places. Many members of this genus require fertile material for identification, so it is something of a relief that a confident identification can usually be made by a combination of the presence of underleaves and the leaf shape.
Microscopy is necessary to find the underleaves which are almost always present on non-gemmiferous shoots. They are small and usually lance-shaped or bifid. The shape of the stem leaves is described as loosely complicate or conduplicate. These are confusing terms but they mean that the leaf curves or bends so that the leaf lobes themselves point upwards so they are almost parallel with the stem. The third image down shows this clearly, but in practice this is not always obvious on all leaves. In this case the bend is quite sharp, forming a keel, but often it is a more gentle concavity. It is best to look for leaves below the shoot tip rather than lower down the stem.
Other features worth noting are that the stem is quite thick for the size of the leaf, and the leaves seem rather stiff because of the bend. There is sometimes a reddish or purplish colour. Gemmae are sometimes present. The plants are dioicous with male and female plants often forming separate patches.
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