SPECIES FACT SHEETCommon Name: Blunt water moss, worm moss, calliergon mossScientific Name: Pseudocalliergon trifariumRecent synonyms: Calliergon trifarium, Drepanocladus trifariusDivision: BryophytaClass: BryopsidaOrder: HypnalesFamily: Amblystegiaceae

Taxonomic Note: Molecular data show Pseudocalliergon nested within the genus Drepanocladus (Hedenäs and Rosborg 2008) which is noted in the Flora of North America (Hedenäs and Miller 2014) but the nomenclature had not been changed.

Technical Description: Plants erect, 4-16 cm tall, brownish-gold, copper-colored, or blackish, unbranched. Shoots round in cross-section, about 1-1.5 mm wide. Leaves obtuse, concave and imbricate, giving plants a blunt, turgid, worm-like appearance. When wet, the leaves appear to be arranged around the stem in a spiral pattern. Capsules are unknown in the Pacific Northwest and very rare rangewide.

Distinctive characters: (1) Sparingly branched, upright, turgid shoots with blunt tips and imbricate concave leaves longer than 1 mm, (2) single costa ending before the apex, (3) inflated alar cells with incrassate cell walls, (4) lack of a hyalodermis (Exeter et al. 2016), and (5) medium to rich fen habitat.

Similar species: Calliergon cordifolium grows in similar habitats, but is (1) green, (2) irregularly pinnately branched, (3) has blunt shoot tips but larger, more spreading leaves, and (4) it forms sprawling mats that lack erect shoots. Calliergonella cuspidata also grows in similar habitats and forms sprawling mats, but is (1) green, (2) irregularly pinnately branched, with (3) conspicuously pointed shoot and branch tips that look like small daggers.

Other descriptions and illustrations: Grout 1931: 99; Nyholm 1965: 455; Lawton 1971: 272; Smith 1978: 578; Crum and Anderson 1981: 1010; Vitt et al. 1988: 88; Christy and Wagner 1996: VII-19; Hedenäs and Miller 2000; Exeter et al. 2016:168-170.

Life History: Details for this species are not documented. The protonema is inconspicuous, forming buds and shoots in the usual

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fashion of moss growth and development. Capsules have not been found in the Pacific Northwest.

Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Circumboreal but rare throughout much of its range. In the Pacific Northwest, known from British Columbia, Washington, Alberta, Montana and Oregon.

National Forests: documented on the Deschutes, Fremont-Winema and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forests; suspected on the Malheur, Rogue-River/Siskiyou and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests in Oregon, and in Washington where suitable peatland habitat exists. BLM Districts: Klamath Falls Resource Area of the Lakeview BLM District considers this species suspected.

Rare. Many peatlands in the Pacific Northwest have been investigated botanically, but Pseudocalliergon trifarium remains rare. It is rare here because it is at the southern end of its range, but it is more common north of the Canadian border.

Habitat Associations: Forming lawns or inconspicuously intermixed with other bryophytes in medium to rich montane fens where it grows submerged to emergent in pools or on saturated ground, usually in full sunlight. Fen pools may dry up in late summer. Elevations range from 5000-6000 feet. Forest types include Abies amabilis, Abies concolor, Abies x shastensis, and Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia associations. Pseudocalliergon trifarium is one of several species of so-called "brown mosses" that occur in mineral-rich fens. Associated vascular plants in Oregon and Washington include Eleocharis quinqueflora, Carex limosa, Scheuchzeria palustris, and Triglochin maritimum. Associated bryophyte species include Hamatocaulis vernicosus, Tomentypnum nitens, Meesia triquetra and Helodium blandowii.

Threats: Over the last century, fen habitats have been impacted by grazing, water diversion, water impoundment, drainage projects, road construction, commercial harvest of peat and sphagnum moss, and succession in the absence of fire. Changes in water regime, nutrient inputs, and succession lead to the disappearance of fen communities and species. Federal and state regulations prohibit building new roads in wetlands, but dust from nearby roads can alter pH in fens and smother small plants such as bryophytes. Livestock trample and destroy bryophyte cover. Commercial collecting of peat depletes bryophyte diversity in mires, although some species require periodic disturbance. Many peatlands are converting to forest in the absence of

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fire and few new peatlands are forming. Scientific collecting can also deplete populations of rare mosses such as Pseudocalliergon.

Conservation Considerations: Revisit known localities to reconfirm presence of populations, and conduct searches for new populations. At known sites or in potential habitat, manage peatlands to maintain hydrology, peat formation processes, and fen species composition.

Conservation rankings: Global: G5 (2015)National: NNRMontana: SH, Potential Species of ConcernBritish Columbia S3S4 (2015), Yellow List

Oregon: S1, List 2 (2015Washington: SNR, R1R6 TE&P or SSS category (2015): Oregon sensitive

Preparer: John A. ChristyDate Completed: June 2006

Revised: May 2007 with edits from Rob Huff, Russ Holmes, and Daphne Stone.

Updated by Camille Duncan in December 2009 (Update added Attachment 1, Photos, to the Species Fact Sheet). Updated by Rob Huff in August 2011 (Suspected and documented statuses).

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: Calliergon trifarium. B.C. Ministry of Environment. Available at: http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Christy, J. A. & D. H. Wagner. 1996. Guide for the identification of rare, threatened or sensitive bryophytes in the range of the northern spotted owl, western Washington, western Oregon and

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northwestern California. USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon-Washington State Office, Portland. 222 pp.

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.

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.

Grout, A. J. 1928-1941. Moss Flora of North America North of Mexico. 3 vols. Published by the author. Newfane, Vermont.

Hedenäs, L. and N. G. Miller. 2014. Pseudocalliergon. Pp. 297-300 in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume 28. Oxford University Press, New York. 702 pp.

Hedenäs, L. and C. Rosborg. 2008. Pseudocalliergon is nested within Drepanocladus (Bryophyta: Amblystegiaceae). Lindbergia:67-74.

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

Montana Plant Potential Species of Concern Report. 2017.  Montana Natural Heritage Program.  Available at: http://mtnhp.org/SpeciesOfConcern/?AorP=p. Accessed on 15 June 2017.

NatureServe. 2017. “Pseudocalliergon trifarium” 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.

Nyholm, E. 1954-1969. Illustrated Moss Flora of Fennoscandia. Vol. 2. Musci. CWK Gleerup, Lund, and Natural Science Research Council, Stockholm. 799 pp.

Oregon Biodiversity Information Center. 2016. Rare, Threatened and Endangered Nonvascular Plant and Fungi Species of Oregon. Institute for Natural Resources, Oregon State University. Available

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at: http://inr.oregonstate.edu/sites/inr.oregonstate.edu/files/2016-rte-nonvasc.pdf. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

Smith, A. J. E. 1978. The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 706 pp.

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.

Vitt, D. H., J. E. Marsh & R. B. Bovey. 1988. Mosses, Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North America. Lone Pine Publishing, Redmond, Washington. 296 pp.

Washington Department of Natural Resources. 2015. Washington Natural Heritage Program List of Mosses. Available at: http://file.dnr.wa.gov/publications/amp_nh_mosses.pdf. Accessed on 5 June 2017.

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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

Leaf

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Alar cells

Upper medial cells

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