Fissidens berteroi
Common name
Moss
Synonyms
Conomitrium berteroi Mont.; Conomitrium muelleri Hampe; Fissidens muelleri (Hampe) Mitt.
Family
Fissidentaceae
Flora category
Non-vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Mosses
Current conservation status
- Conservation status of New Zealand mosses, 2014 (PDF, 583.87 kB)
The conservation status of 109 New Zealand moss taxa was assessed using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). Four taxa and one undescribed entity that were not included in previous assessments have been added to the list. The conservation status of only two taxa has changed in this assessment. A full list is presented, along with a statistical summary and brief notes on the changes. This list replaces all previous NZTCS lists for mosses. Authors: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Allan J. Fife, Jessica E. Beever, Patrick J. Brownsey and Rodney A. Hitchmough.
- Conservation status of New Zealand hornworts and liverworts, 2014 (PDF, 695.44 kB)
The conservation status of the New Zealand hornwort and liverwort flora is reassessed using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). A full list is presented, along with a statistical summary and brief notes on the most important changes. This list replaces all previous NZTCS lists for New Zealand hornworts and liverworts which previously had been part of a generic bryophyte conservation status assessment that included mosses. Authors: Peter J. de Lange, David Glenny, John Braggins, Matt Renner, Matt von Konrat, John Engel, Catherine Reeb and Jeremy Rolfe.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2009 | Threatened – Nationally Vulnerable | Qualifiers: RR, TO
Previous conservation status
2004 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered
Distribution
Indigenous. North, South and Chatham Islands - current records only from Kaipara (Tinopai), Auckland, Wairarapa (Masterton, Lake Wairarapa), Wellington and Chatham Islands (Rekohu and Rangiauria). Also in Australia and South America. Some very large populations have been discovered in Auckland City (2007, 2008) and Masterton (2007)
Detailed description
Plants very large for the genus, on rock, wood, or concrete, submerged in flowing water, bright green; shoots soft, flexuous, forming tufts or mats, to 10 cm long, 10 mm wide, frequently branched; rhizoids at stem base, occasionally in leaf axils, and in one gathering copious on the distal part of the leaf lamina and there subtending plantlets; stems without central strand, axillary hyaline nodules weakly differentiated; leaves in many pairs, patent, distant, flaccid, shrunken when dry, 5-9 mm long, 0.5-0.9 mm wide; leaf apex acuminate; vaginant lamina 2/5-1/2 of leaf length, joined to near leaf margin; dorsal lamina 25- 35 cells wide opposite junction of vaginant lamina, failing before insertion; nerve green, indistinct, failing 15-40 cells before leaf apex, 45-60 microns wide at junction of vaginant lamina, tapering from there to nerve apex, in cross-section all cells thin-walled; leaf margins entire with occasional serrations, especially near leaf apex, unbordered except sometimes a very weak border on margin of lower third of vaginant lamina; laminae unistratose, cells of apical and dorsal lamina 5-6 sided in face view, thin-walled, smooth, increasing greatly in size from margin to nerve, (10-) 15-18(-22) x 9-12 microns in mid-lamina; cells of vaginant lamina similar. Paroicous. Perichaetia and perigonia adjacent in leaf axils, on very short shoots, with reduced leaves; setae 0.8-1.5 mm long; capsule cupulate, urn 0.8 mm long, exothecial cells c. 80 around perimeter; operculum with a very short, blunt, slightly oblique beak, less than ½ the length of the urn; peristome teeth short, 200-245 microns long, 50-70 microns wide at base, scarcely covering capsule mouth when moist, irregularly bifid for 2/3 or more of their length, some lacunate to near base, lamellae finely papillose on dorsal surface of tooth, variably so on ventral, prongs with oblique ridges, tips truncate or tapering; spores (16-)18-22(-25) microns, papillose; calyptra cucullate.
Fruiting
Fruits may be present throughout the year.
Propagation technique
Difficult - should not be removed from the wild
Threats
Extremely vulnerable to changes in water levels, aeration and quality. Several populations have gone extinct over the last 100 years possibly due to change sin water quality, pollution levels and competition from weeds. However, despite this species large size it is easily overlooked and recent finds on the Chatham Islands suggest that it may yet prove to be more common than currently believed.
Substrate
Saxicolous and corticolous, aquatic moss. Mostly found on rock (both gravel and rock faces), also on concrete and submerged logs
Etymology
fissidens: From the Latin fissio ‘fission’ and dens ‘tooth, prong’ meaning split tooth and referring to shape of the lamina.
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange August 2009. Description based on Beever (1995).
References and further reading
Beever, J.E. 1995: Studies of Fissidens (Bryophyta: Musci) in New Zealand : F. strictus Hook.f. et Wils. and F. berteroi (Mont.) C.Muell. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 291–299.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Fissidens berteroi Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/fissidens-berteroi/ (Date website was queried)