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

Plagiopus oederiana (Brid.) Limpr.
Oeder's apple-moss (Oeder's plagiopus moss)
Bartramiaceae

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

Introduction to the Bryophytes of BC

© Curtis Bjork  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #24917)

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Distribution of Plagiopus oederiana
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Species Information

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Illustration Source: Some Common Mosses of BC

Species description:
Genus name meaning oblique footed, perhaps in reference to the seta and its connection to the sporangium in the original specimen upon which the name is based. Species named in honour of G.C. von Oeder (1728-1791), a Danish botanist who first recognized this moss as distinctive.
Reproduction:
Sporophytes frequent, maturing in spring; dark brown when ripe.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The roughly three-ranked leaf arrangement, the dark green leaves that are not glossy, the calcareous habitat and spherical sporangia are useful features.
Habit:
Forming short to tall, dark green turfs of unbranched plants, sometimes with notably three-ranked leaf arrangement (the stem is triangular in cross section).
Similar Species:
All species of Bartramia have somewhat glossy, yellowish-green, rather than dull dark green leaves as in Plagiopus. In Anacolia menziesii the plants are heavily invested with rhizoids and the leaves are little altered when dry and golden yellow-green compared to the dark green of Plagiopus.

Habitat / Range

Habitat
On humid calcium-rich cliff shelves.
Range
World Distribution

Circumpolar in the Northern Hemisphere; in North America extending southward in the east to Virginia and Iowa, in the west to Oregon and eastward to Colorado and Utah.

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Bartramia oederi Brid.
Plagiopus oederi (Brid.) Limpr.
Plagiopus oederi var. alpina (Schwaegr.) Torre & Sarnth.

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Range and Status Information Links

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General References