The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network

Species

Plagiopus oederiana

Common Name(s)

Moss, Oeder’s Apple-moss

Current Conservation Status

2009 - Threatened - Nationally Critical

Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2012 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2009 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, Paul D. Champion, Shannel P. Courtney, Peter B. Heenan, John W. Barkla, Ewen K. Cameron, David A. Norton and Rodney A. Hitchmough. File size: 792KB

Previous Conservation Status

2004 - Threatened - Nationally Critical

Qualifiers

2009 - OL, ?SO

Authority

Plagiopus oederiana (Sw.) H.A.Crum & L.E.Anderson

Family

Bartramiaceae

Flora Category

Non Vascular - Native

Synonyms

Bartramia oederiana Sw.

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: South Island (North-West Nelson, in the Owen Range (Kahurangi National Park)). Also Europe, the Caucasus, Asia, Japan China, Greenland, Hawaii, and eastern North America. In the Pacific Northwestern North America it is known from Alaska, Canadian Arctic, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado

Habitat

Saxicolous. Found on shaded or wet calcareous rocks in montane, subalpine and alpine areas especially common on cliffs and on rocks in crevices and vertical faces.

Features

Plants in dense, dull green to yellowish-brown tufts up to 10 cm tall; stems ± covered with brown rhizoids, triangular in cross-section; leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, keeled, 2–5 mm long, erect to spreading when moist, somewhat crisped and contorted when dry; margins unistratose, recurved, coarsely serrate above, smooth below; costa single, percurrent, toothed near the apex on dorsal side; upper median cells quadrate to rectangular, cuticle irregularly roughened in longitudinal lines or ridges appearing as minutely plurepapillose; basal cells longer and smooth. Synoicous; paraphyses numerous; seta straight, 7–18 mm long; capsules ± globose, brown to reddish-brown, zygomorphic, suberect to inclined, strongly ribbed when dry; peristome teeth double, endostome yellow, exostome dark brown; spores coarsely papillose, globose to ellipsoidal, 15–27µm

Threats

Known from very few sites and even fewer plants. Threatened mainly by the small population size and area of occupancy than by any other more direct human-induced threat(s).

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

This page last updated on 9 Jan 2012