Favoritos de laurenaceae

There are actually two species of Fissidens here growing on sloped crumbly pebbly soil in the partial shade of coast live oaks and poison oak. Like all Fissidens species they have just two rows of leaves and the plants have a very flattened look to them.

The larger plants have the more typical Fissidens leaves with the basal region split into two layers forming a sort of pocket great for holding onto water. This one seems to be F. crispus as the dorsal lamina reaches the stem.

The smaller species is F. curvatus, whose leaves are narrower more tapered and not immediately recognizable as Fissidens but upon closer inspection do have the little pocket. Most of the abundant sporophytes in the photo are coming from these smaller F. curvatus plants and these are very classic Fissidens sporophytes with their bright red lipstick teeth (peristome).