Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Kurzia makinoana (Steph.) Grolle
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1b plants leafy > 3a leaves divided 1/2 or more > 4b leaves divided to base > 5b underleaves much smaller than lateral leaves > Kurzia makinoana
Synonym: Kurzia sylvatica (A.Evans) Grolle
Special Status:ORBIC List 2.
Recognition: Very tiny plants that grow in tight mats that look like a brownish felt from ten paces away; also as stray strands mixed in with other bryophytes. The shoots have leaves divided into cilia which are biseriate at the base. Easily confused in the field with depauperate patches of Lepidozia reptans.
Distribution: In wetlands along the coast, on rotting wood. At the time of this writing, known in Oregon from only one locality in Coos County, at the BLM New River reserve. Visiting the site some years after its discovery indicates the population in Oregon is declining.
Comments: Likely to be found only if one is specifically looking for it.
Plants from Oregon have been named as either Kurzia makinoana or K. sylvatica(A. Evans) Grolle in recent discussions. Whittemore (1999) lists K. sylvatica for California but notes, that populations of this species from the Pacific Coast are often treated as a distinct species under the name Kurzia makinoana (Steph.) Grolle. Schofield (2002) recognized three species of Kurzia in the Pacific Northwest: K. pauciflora, K. sylvatica, and K. trichoclados. Doyle and Stotler (2006) used K. makinoana in the keys to California liverworts. Wagner (Exeter, Harpel and Wagner 2016), following Schofield, used K. sylvatica although he considered it synonymous with K. makinoana. The treatment of the genus for the Bryophyte Flora of North America (Bakalin 2018) recognizes this synonymy. Since K. makinoana is the older name, it is currently the best name to use.
Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m0788.
Muddy Lake, Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m0788.
Dorsal aspect. Muddy Lake, Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m2554.
Muddy Lake, Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m2554.
Muddy Lake, Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m2554.
Underleaves. Muddy Lake, Coos Co., Oregon. DHW m0788.