Grimmia plagiopodia
Common name
Dry rock moss
Synonyms
Grimmia argentea R.Br.bis
Family
Grimmiaceae
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 Critical | Qualifiers: OL, TO
Previous conservation status
2004 | Threatened – Nationally Critical
Distribution
Indigenous. New Zealand: South Island (Castle Hill Basin Canterbury).
Otherwise recorded sparingly from Antarctica, Australia, South America and elsewhere throughout the world (Seppelt & Green 1998).
Habitat
Saxicolous. Montane. Confined to limestone outcrops within the Castle Hill karstfield. Castle Hill is now surrounded by tussock grassland but it was formerly forested.
Detailed description
Saxicolous, forming minute, rounded, bright silvery cushions on limestone rock. Stems short c.5 mm tall, closely matted together, densely and turgidly branched. leaves crowded, broadly ovate or oblong, deeply concave; margins plane not thickened. Nerve weak and narrow. Hyaline point usually longer than lamina, wide and rough, usually branched one or more times, irregularly dentate and variably flexuose or geniculate. Cells non-sinuose; the upper ones rather large 9-12 µm, those below widely oblong. Seta very short, curved. Capsule completely immersed, almost sessile, swollen at the base on one side. Peristome teeth pale-yellow, thin, delicate, irregularly cleft at apex. Operculum conic, with a short erect beak. Calyptra small. mitriform. Spores 12 µm diameter.
Similar taxa
Distinguished from other New Zealand Grimmia by the capsule, which is deeply immersed amongst the leaves, basally swollen and set asymmetrically on the seta; by the broad leaves whose cells are short and wide below; and by the hyaline point which is characteristically longer than the lamina, flexuose or geniculate, usually branched one or more times, and irregularly dentate.
Fruiting
Fruiting material is known but there is no data on fruiting times.
Threats
Grimmia plagiopodia is known from only a single area in the Castle Hill portion of the Tresslick Basin. There it is confined to limestone outcrops, where it is threatened by rock climbing. As rock climbing has increased in popularity over the last two decades, this minute moss has seriously declined, presumably because plants are scuffed out, trampled or dislodged by ropes. Currently there is little management of the situation.
Substrate
Saxicolous on limestone.
Sometimes mispelled as Grimmia plagiopoda.
Attribution
Factsheet Prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange (29 August 2011). Description adapted from Sainsbury (1955).
References and further reading
Sainsbury, G.O.K. 1955: A handbook of the New Zealand mosses. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 5.
Seppelt, R.D.; Green, T.G.A. 1998: A bryophyte flora for Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. New Zealand Journal of Botany 36: 617-635.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Grimmia plagiopodia Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/grimmia-plagiopodia/ (Date website was queried)