Andreaea blyttii

The shoots of A. blyttii vary in length. They are distinctively known for being small and dark red or black. They form tuffs and have acrocarpus growth. Depending on the frequency of desiccation, the branching pattern can vary from unbranched to irregularly branched. The number of leaves per shoot increases in dry environments. The stem walls are made up of pigmented cells and the stem lacks a conducting strand which is a character of the genus Andreaea.{{Citation |last1=Glime |first1=Janice M. |title=Ecological and Physiological Effects of Changing Climate on Aquatic Bryophytes |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511779701.007 |work=Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change |pages=93–114 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=2022-04-09 |last2=Tuba |first2=Zoltan |last3=Slack |first3=Nancy G. |last4=Stark |first4=Lloyd R.|year=2010 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511779701.007 |isbn=9780511779701 |url-access=subscription }} Rhizoids are attached at the base of the shoot. The spores are uniquely small in this species and grow into a thalloid protonema.{{Cite web |last=Webmaster |first=David Ratz |title=Blytt's Andreaea Moss - Montana Field Guide |url=https://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=NBMUS0A010 |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=fieldguide.mt.gov |language=en}} The leaves of this species are known to vary in morphology. Leaf length and curvature, costa width and cell length are reduced in response to desiccation. Leaf curvature can be erect, falcate-secund, or curved.{{Cite web |title=Andreaea blyttii in Flora of North America @ efloras.org |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250075472 |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=www.efloras.org}} Larger more curved leaves with a smaller subula have been noted as a deviant morphology. Most leaves are erect and have a short and wide basal lamina with rectangular unistratose cells and a long subula also known as a limb with a costa spanning the entire length of the leaf.{{Cite web |title=Andreaea blyttii : Blytt's Rock-moss {{!}} NBN Atlas |url=https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000036121 |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=species.nbnatlas.org}} The costa is multistratose. This moss is closely related to Andreaea nivalis but A. blyttii lacks the denticulate leaf margins and very papillose upper cells of A. nivalis.{{Cite journal |last=Harpel |first=Juddith A. |date=October 2008 |title=Andreaea nivalis - Species Fact sheet |url=https://www.fs.fed.us/r6/sfpnw/issssp/documents/planning-docs/sfs-br-andreaea-nivalis-2010-05.pdf |journal=US Forest Service}}

Andreaea blyttii is usually found on rocks such as gneiss and granite. It also found in late to extremely late snow beds at low to high latitudes and elevations.{{Cite journal |last=Heegaard |first=Einar |date=1997-01-01 |title=Ecology of Andreaea in western Norway |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/jbr.1997.19.3.527 |journal=Journal of Bryology |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=527–636 |doi=10.1179/jbr.1997.19.3.527 |issn=0373-6687|url-access=subscription }} It forms dense mats in mountain alpines where few other mosses can survive and is able to colonize sites of deglaciation.{{Cite journal |last1=Stebel |first1=Adam |last2=Ochyra |first2=Ryszard |last3=Konstantinova |first3=Nadezhda A. |last4=Ziaja |first4=Wiesław |last5=Ostafin |first5=Krzysztof |last6=Maciejowski |first6=Wojciech |date=2018-12-31 |title=A contribution to the knowledge of bryophytes in polar areas subjected to rapid deglaciation: a case study from southeastern Spitsbergen |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5586/asbp.3603 |journal=Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae |volume=87 |issue=4 |doi=10.5586/asbp.3603 |s2cid=92266634 |issn=2083-9480|doi-access=free }} In Norway, it has commonly been observed growing in association with Hymenoloma crispulum and Schistidium pulchrum. A. blyttii grows better on non-calcareous rocks.

Andreaea blyttii is distributed across higher elevations in Greenland, Iceland, Northern Europe, Northern Asia and across North America in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, Yukon, North West territories, Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec.

Andreaea blyttii can reproduce asexually and sexually. Asexual reproduction is through vegetative fragments. After touching A. blyttii, your hands can collect some of the fragments. The frequency of vegetative reproduction is recorded to be higher in moist environments but A. blyttii survive better in dry environments. Fragments need to be able to anchor to their substrate which is usually rock before getting washed away. Sexual reproduction occurs through sporic meiosis like in all bryophytes.{{Cite journal |last=Haig |first=David |date=2016-10-19 |title=Living together and living apart: the sexual lives of bryophytes |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=371 |issue=1706 |pages=20150535 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2015.0535 |pmc=5031620 |pmid=27619699}} A. blyttii is autoicous meaning its female and male reproductive structures are on separate branches but on the same shoot. The archegonium is borne at the tip of the shoot and is wrapped in perichaetial leaves which are differentiated from the rest of the leaves on the shoot.{{Cite web |title=Andreaea blyttii - FNA |url=http://floranorthamerica.org/Andreaea_blyttii |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=floranorthamerica.org}} The sporophyte emerges from the archegonium. All members of Andreaeopsida lack a seta and instead have a gametophyte pseudopodium that attaches to the sporangium. The capsules of the sporangium lack peristome teeth and have 4 lines of moisture sensitive openings called lines of dehiscence. To release spores the capsule opens via the lines of dehiscence when dry giving the sporophyte a paper lantern appearance. These capsule openings allows for the spores to be released gradually. The spores of this species are characteristically small ranging from 13-15 μm.

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Category:Andreaeaceae

Category:Lithophytes

Category:Plants described in 1855

Category:Near threatened biota of Europe