Identification notes
This wispy-looking pleurocarp is strongly associated with fens, dune slacks and other wet calcareous vegetation and the possibility of finding it is always worth bearing in mind in such places. Before being placed in Kandaea, it sat in Campyliadelphus with C. chrysophyllus (now Campylium chrysophyllum), a species more characteristic of dry calcareous grassland. Kandaea is tricky to key out in Smith (2004) as its stem leaves do not always clearly constrict to a long acuminate tip from an ovate leaf base.
Particular care needs to be taken to avoid misidentifying small forms of the extremely variable Cratoneuron filicinum as Kandaea. Confusion is possible due to the presence of pseudoparaphyllia on younger parts of the stem, not a character mentioned in most floras but important as Cratoneuron has paraphyllia and Kandaea doesn’t. The difference is subtle but important: paraphyllia are tiny filaments, scales or leaf-like structures scattered on the stem of some pleurocarpous mosses (and leafy liverworts) whereas pseudoparaphyllia look similar but are clustered around the bases of branches or branch buds.
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