SPECIES FACT SHEETCommon Name: Mucronleaf tortula moss Scientific Name: Tortula mucronifolia Division: Bryophyta Class: Bryopsida Order: Pottiales Family: Pottiaceae

Technical Description: Plants dark green, 2-3 mm wide, to 1 cm long but usually less than 5 mm. Leaves 2-5 x 0.6-1.5 mm, tightly clustered, keeled, contorted and infolded when dry and spreading when moist, oblong to oblong-obovate, blunt at apex except for short point formed by excurrent costa, unistratose in section; costa strong, conspicuous and shiny on back of leaf, exceeding the apex to form a short, distinct yellowish point (mucro); margins entire, recurved in lower 1/2 to 2/3 and plane above, not bordered or bordered only in lower part by elongate cells; upper leaf cells 15-21 (28) μm, usually smooth but rarely with low papillae; basal cells longer than upper cells but not forming a conspicuous differentiated group. Setae 8-15 mm long. Capsules frequent, erect and straight, 3-5 mm long, peristome teeth twisted into a cone.

Distinctive characters: (1) Tiny Tortula on bare soil, (2) leaf cells usually without papillae, (3) costa excurrent as a short point, (4) basal cells not forming a differentiated group, (5) leaf lacking or with a weak marginal border (Exeter et al. 2016).

Similar species: Other soil-dwelling species of Tortula in this size class have strongly papillose leaf cells and either long awns, bordered leaves, or differentiated basal cells. Tortula latifolia has blunt leaves with no awn, and the cells are papillose, the leaves are obovate, and it usually grows on trees west of the Cascades. Tortula subulata differs in not having smooth cells and a week laminal border, but intermediates may be found where the two species overlap (Exeter et al. 2016).

Other descriptions and illustrations: Crum 1983:122; Crum & Anderson 1981: 395; Ireland 1982: 240; Lawton 1971: 110; Sharp et al. 1994: 325; Exeter et al. 2016: 230-232.

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Life History: Details for this species are not documented. The protonema is inconspicuous, forming buds and shoots in the usual fashion of moss growth and development. Fruiting in summer and fall.

Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, Turkey, Africa and New Zealand. In North America south to Mexico, Nebraska, the upper Midwest, and Virginia.

National Forests: documented from the Rogue River-Siskiyou, Malheur and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests. BLM Districts documented on Medford district.Rare throughout its range but probably undercollected.

Habitat Associations: Forming small turfs or cushions on soil, tree roots, and sheltered ledges and crevices of rock outcrops and cliffs. Elevation of known sites ranges from low elevation to 8100 feet (Exeter et al. 2016). Known vegetation types are rock outcrops in Abies concolor and Abies x shastensis forest in southwestern Oregon, and riparian forest on Steens Mountain composed of Betula occidentalis, Populus tremuloides, and Populus balsamifera ssp. trichocarpa. Reportedly a calciphile (Crum and Anderson 1981; Crum 1983), but in Oregon and Washington on acid rocks as well. Heinlen (pers. obs. 2017) has found it on mineral soil in riparian areas in North Central Washington.

Threats: Current knowledge of Tortula mucronifolia in Oregon and Washington is very limited, but populations appear to be small, discontinuous, and subject to local catastrophic loss. Sites such as those observed in riparian zones on Steens Mountain may be threatened by livestock bedding and trampling. Montane rock outcrops may be threatened by road construction or quarrying. Higher-elevation habitats favored by T. mucronifolia may be at risk from global warming. In Europe, threats include urbanization and mining.

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Conservation Considerations: Consider managing known sites and surveying for new sites at least until more information is known about this species in Oregon and Washington.

Conservation rankings:Global: G5 (2015National: NNRBritish Columbia: S4S5 (2015), Yellow ListMontana: SNR

Oregon: S2, List 2 (2016)Washington: not listed R6 TE&P or SSS category (2015): Oregon sensitive

Preparer: John A. Christy Date Completed: May 2006 Edited by: Rob Huff Date: June 26, 2007 Updated by Camille Duncan in February 2010 (Update added Attachment 1: Photos, to the Species Fact Sheet.)

Reconfigured and revised in June 2017 by Erica Heinlen, adding relevant recent research.

ATTACHMENTS:

(1) Photos

References

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2017. Species/Community Summary: Tortula mucronifolia. B.C. Ministry of Environment. Available at: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Crum, H. 1983. Mosses of the Great Lakes Forest. 3rd edition. University of Michigan Herbarium, Ann Arbor. 417 pp.

_______ & L. E. Anderson. 1981. Mosses of Eastern North America. 2 volumes. Columbia University Press, New York. 1328 pp.

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Exeter, R. L., J. Harpel, and D. Wagner. 2016. Rare Bryophytes of Oregon. Salem District, Bureau of Land Management. Salem, Oregon. 97306. ISBN-13: 978-0-9791310-4-2. 378 pp.

Heinlen, E. R. 2017. Personal observation. Seasonal Botanist, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Tonasket Ranger District, 1 W. Winesap, Tonasket, WA 98855.

Ireland, R. R. 1982. Moss flora of the Maritime Provinces. National Museums of Canada Publications in Botany 13: 1-738. National Museum of Natural Sciences, Ottawa.

Lawton, E. 1971. Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Hattori Botanical Laboratory, Nichinan, Japan. 362 pp.

NatureServe. 2017. “Tortula mucronifolia” NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Version 7.1. (2 February 2009). Data last updated: October 2015. Available at: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Oregon Biodiversity Information Center. 2016. Rare, Threatened and Endangered Nonvascular Plant and Fungi Species of Oregon. Institute for Natural Resources, Oregon State University. Available at: http://inr.oregonstate.edu/sites/inr.oregonstate.edu/files/2016-rte-nonvasc.pdf. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Sharp, A. J., H. Crum & P. M. Eckel (eds). 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. 2 volumes. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 69: 1-1113.

U. S. Department of Agriculture/U. S. Department of the Interior. 2015. Enclosure 1 - Federally Threatened, Endangered & Proposed Species and Sensitive and Strategic Species List. Interagency Special Status/Sensitive Species Program. Available at: https://www.fs.fed.us/r6/sfpnw/issssp/agency-policy/ . Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Zander, R. H. 2007. Tortula. Pp. 586-603 in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 27. Oxford University Press, New York. 713 pp.

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Attachment 1: Photos All photos by Dr. Judy Harpel, under contract with the Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management

Whole mount dry

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Whole mount wet

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Leaf Whole sporophyte

Leaf marginal cells

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Upper medial cells

Leaf cross-section

Leaf cross-section

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Leaf cross-section

Leaf apex

Leaf alar and basal cells

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