Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Lophozia ascendens (Warnst.) Schust.
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Lophozia 1b oil bodies less than 12 per cell > Lophozia 5b leaves bilobed > Lophozia 8b underleaves absent > Lophozia 12b dioicous > Lophozia 14a gemmae greenish > Lophozia 16a plants erect > Lophozia ascendens
Synonym: L. ciliata Damsholt, Hedenas, and Soderstrom
Special Status: Special status probably warranted when distribution is made clear.
Recognition: Plants erect or suberect, mostly < 6mm high; leaves relatively narrow, typically 0.6 to 0.8 as wide as long, with narrow, hornlike lobes. Gemmae are borne on the tips of erect shoots with slightly reduced leaves.
Distribution: Apparently restricted to high elevation, on peaty soil or rotten wood. Presently known, with questionable confidence, from the Strawberry Mountains of Grant County. Paratypes of L. ciliata were gathered in Lane County, and Klamath County.
Comments: I have found only one specimen which I identified as either this or L. heterocolpa, collected at Strawberry Falls in 1978. This specimen should be reexamined to evaluate the determination. I have not seen L. ciliata Damsholt, Hedenas, and Soderstrom, recently described from Oregon and Scandanavia. It described as is smaller than Lophozia ascendens and has similar erect, gemmiferous shoots. Other than the paratype collections, now located in Sweden, L. ciliata has not been seen in Oregon. Vadim (2011) suggests that L. ciliata is a "poorly developed corticolous phase" of L. ascendens.
Lophozia ascendens, Wilson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. F.A. MacFadden 6678 (MO).
Lophozia ascendens, Wilson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. F.A. MacFadden 6678 (MO).