Species

Amphidium lapponicum

Common Name(s)

moss

Current Conservation Status

2009 - At Risk - Naturally Uncommon

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

Qualifiers

2009 - RR, Sp

Authority

Amphidium lapponicum (Hedw.) Schimp.

Family

Rhabdoweisiaceae

Flora Category

Non Vascular - Native

Structural Class

Moss

Synonyms

Anictangium lapponicum Hedw.; Amphidium sublapponicum (C. Müll.) Broth.; Zygodon sublapponicus C. Müll.

Distribution

Indigenous. New Zealand: North and South Islands. Also China, Japan, Central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and North America

Habitat

Terricolous on moist rocks in montane forest and subalpine scrub.

Features

Plants small to medium-sized, up to 35 mm tall, dark green or yellowish brown, in dense tufts. Stems erect, simple or forked, radiculose below. Leaves strongly curled and contorted when dry, narrowly oblong- to linear-lanceolate; margins irregularly and narrowly recurved below, entire or indistinctly sinuate above; costa single, strong, ending near the leaf apex, papillose on both sides; upper laminal cells rounded-hexagonal, 8–10 µm in diameter, thick-walled, very opaque, densely warty-papillose; lower cells slightly larger, rectangular, thin-walled, hyaline or pale yellowish, smooth; alar cells not differentiated. Autoicous. Perichaetial leaves greatly enlarged, entirely sheathing, broad at base, short-pointed at the apex. Setae up to 2 mm long, as long as or shorter than perichaetial leaves; capsules shortly emergent, 1.0–1.3 mm long. Spores 9–12 µm in diameter, usually smooth or nearly so.

Fruiting

Fruiting material is known from New Zealand but there are insufficient gatherings as yet to determine periodicity

Threats

Amphidium lapponicum is known from very few sites, all of which are located within protected land. There are no known threats. For this reason Amphidium has been listed as "Naturally Uncommon" (see Glenny et al. 2011).

Endemic Taxon

No

Endemic Genus

No

Endemic Family

No

Attribution

Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange 26 October 2011. Description adapted from the Chinese eFlora (see http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=4&taxon_id=200000880)

References and further reading

Glenny, D.; Fife, A.J.; Brownsey, P.J.; Renner, M.A.M.; Braggins, J.E.; Beever, J.E.; Hitchmough, R. 2011: Threatened and uncommon bryophytes of New Zealand (2010 Revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 49: 305-327.

This page last updated on 7 Nov 2013