page_title: Polytrichum strictum
section_title: Reproduction
hierarchical_section_title: Polytrichum strictum / Reproduction
caption_attribution_description: Steifblättriges Widertonmoos (Polytrichum strictum), Zingst, männliche Pflänzchen mit gipfeligen Antheridienständen
context_page_description: Polytrichum strictum, commonly known as bog haircap moss or strict haircap, is an evergreen and perennial species of moss native to Sphagnum bogs and other moist habitats in temperate climates. It has a circumboreal distribution, and is also found in South America and Antarctica.
context_section_description: Polytrichum strictum is dioicous, with male and female reproductive structures produced separately by male and female gametophytes, which are haploid (1n).  As in other Polytrichum species, the antheridia are borne terminally on male plants and swell and burst when mature, launching sperm into the air; in addition, they develop in splash cups, which further facilitate sperm dispersal by catching and harnessing the energy of rain drops.  The lucky few sperm to land near the archegonia of a female plant (also borne terminally) use their two whiplash flagella to swim down the neck and into the venter, where one will fertilize the ovum. Once fertilisation takes place, the zygote develops into the diploid (2n) sporophyte, which consists of a foot (embedded in the tissue of the gametophyte), a seta (or stalk), and a capsule.  The capsule, which is covered by a dirty-white calyptra, matures after the seta elongates, at which point the calyptra is shed.   Within the capsule, each sporoctye undergoes meiosis to produce four haploid (1n) spores; when these are mature, the operculum is projected and the spores are released through the peristome, which is joined by the epiphragm and ringed by 64 nematodontous teeth.  When the proper conditions and substrate are available, the spores germinate into a filamentous protonema, from which the gametophytes emerge, completing the cycle.
caption: The male reproductive structures of P. strictum, featuring splash cups.
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