Species
Tortella cirrhata
Common Name(s)
moss
Current Conservation Status
2009 - Range Restricted
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
Authority
Tortella cirrhata Broth.
Family
Pottiaceae
Flora Category
Non Vascular - Native
Structural Class
Moss
Synonyms
Tortella mooreae Sainsbury, Trichostomum eckelianum R.H. Zander
Distribution
Indigenous. Known in New Zealand from Te Paki (North Cape), the Hauraki Gulf Islands (Poor Knights, Mokohinau, Rangitoto), Hauturu (Clark Island near Whangamata) and Western Reef on the Chatham Islands.
Features
Dioicous (rarely autoicous) compact, densely tufted moss of exposed coastal rock platforms and associated compact soil. Plants bright yellow-green above, brown below. Stems 6-8 mm tall, simply or sparingly branched. Leaves 2.0-2.5 mm long, crowded, crisped when dry, erect to spreading when moist; lamina lanceolate or lanceolate-subulate, acute, concave below, with margins incurved or convolute, finely crenulate and with projecting cells in the subula. Nerve strong about 70 microns wide, narrowing and indistinct near base, excurrent, apex acute, rigid. Upper cells 8-10 microns isodiametrical, incrassate, rounded or subquadrate, smooth or faintly papillose; those above the small basal group slightly longer, shortly rectangular with rounded angles; those of the basal group itself thin-walled, hyaline, widely rectangular, 3-4 x 1, extending obliquely slightly higher up the margin. Perichaetial bracts not differentiated. Seta 10-18 mm long, slender, red to red-brown (especially toward base). Capsule 1.5-2.0 mm long, narrowly-cylindrical, pale-brown, with a reddish mouth. Annulus absent. Peristome teeth 16, inserted under the rim, short, 0.38 mm tall, nearly straight. divided to the base into two filiform, papillose. reddish-brown, obscurely nodulose segments. Operculum conico-rostrate, erect, about one-third the length of the capsule, with two cell-rows vertical, not oblique.
Fruiting
October - December (may be present throughout the year)
Threats
An apparently naturally uncommon species whose range may have contracted in the past through loss of habitat and nutrients caused by declining sea bird and seal numbers. In its few known locations it is reasonably common and apparently secure. Its recent (2007, 2009, 2010) recognition from North Cape (Te Paki - November 2010), Western Reef (where it was collected in January 2006 - see de Lange & Sawyer 2008) and Hauturu (Clark Island, near Whangamata December 2009) suggests it is more widespread than had once been believed.
This page last updated on 25 Jul 2014