Polytrichum is a genus of mosses — commonly called haircap moss or hair moss — which contains approximately 70 species that have a cosmopolitan distribution. The genus Polytrichum has a number of closely related sporophytic characters. The scientific name is derived from the Ancient Greek words polys, meaning "many", and thrix, meaning "hair". This name was used in ancient times to refer to plants with fine, hairlike parts, including mosses, but this application specifically refers to the hairy calyptras found on young sporophytes. A similar naming related to hair appears in Old Norse, haddr silfjar, "hair of Sif", goddess from Norse Mythology, wife of the god Thor. There are two major sections of Polytrichum species. The first — section Polytrichum — has narrow, toothed, and relatively erect leaf margins. The other — section Juniperifolia — has broad, entire, and sharply inflexed leaf margins that enclose the lamellae on the upper leaf surface.
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Mosses like juniper haircap are quiet workhorses of healthy ecosystems — they retain moisture, pr...
Every article on Plant News that mentions a member of this genus, newest first.
A juniper haircap moss was spotted and confirmed by the iNaturalist community in Lake Oswego, Oregon, adding a verified data point to our understanding of this native moss's distribution in the Pacific Northwest.
