E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of BC

Hygrohypnum ochraceum (Turn. ex Wits.) Loeske
claw brook-moss (hygrohypnum moss)
Amblystegiaceae

Species Account Author: Wilf Schofield
Extracted from Some Common Mosses of BC

Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC

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Species description:
Genus name meaning aquatic Hypnum, describing the habitat. Species name meaning yellow-brown, describing plants of sunny sites.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes infrequent, maturing in spring to summer; brown when ripe.

Distinguishing characteristics:
Specimens with yellow-green, falcatesecund leaves, loosely or not attached to the substratum and with stout inclined sporangia are diagnostic, but see below.

Habit:
Forming soft mats of golden green, yellow-green or, rarely, dark green, irregularly branched shoots usually loosely affixed to the substratum.

Similar Species:
This is a highly variable species and can be confused with some species of Hypnum that are irregularly branched; the characters that set them apart, except for the wet habitat, are largely microscopic. From Drepanocladu species that occur in the same habitat, the pronounced midrib of that genus is usually sufficient to separate them. It is often difficult to distinguish from most other species of Hygrohypnum, except that in cross-section, the stem of H. ochraceum shows enlarged, thin-walled cells in the epidermal layer; most other species ofHygrohypnum, lack these enlarged cells.

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

Habitat

Aquatic or in seepage sites; in wetlands of subalpine to alpine areas; on rocks and logs in streams, on wet cliffs, especially near watercourses and on lake margins; from sea level to alpine sites.

Range

World Distribution

Widely distributed in the cooler climates of the Northern Hemisphere. In the Western Hemisphere from southern Greenland southward to the southern Appalachian Mountains of North America and westward around the Great Lakes; in western North America from northern Alaska southward to Arizona, eastward along the Rocky Mountains.

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Native	S4S5	Yellow	Not Listed

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer.

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