Species description:
Genus named in honour of the 19th-century Swedish bryologist, N.C. Kindberg. Species named for the state of Oregon where the original specimen was collected.
Comments:
Sometimes named Eurhynchium oreganum or Stokesiella nrerrana; these are synonymous.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The regularly pinnate, large terrestrial plants that occur in near-coastal or humid interior forests are valuable features in combination with the broadly heart-shaped and sharply pointed stem leaves, and sporangium that bears a sharply snouted operculum. The rough seta is another useful character.
Habit:
Forming loose mats of interwoven light green to dark green to yellow-green, pinnately branched, creeping plants with the branches arising in a single horizontal plane.
Similar Species:
Some specimens of K. praelonga are difficult to distinguish from K. oregana but the occurrence in moister sites, the more complex branching pattern, and the usually more slender aspect of K. praelonga are usually diagnostic. Eurhynchium pulchellum is generally much smaller and the leaves tend to be blunt; in Kindbergia they are sharply pointed. E. pulchellum var. barnesiae also strongly resembles K. oregana but this plant has blunt leaves and is a calcicole.
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: Some Common Mosses of BC
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Bryhnia oregana (Sull.) Robins.
Kindbergia oregana (Sull.) Ochyra
Stokesiella oregana (Sull.) Robins.