Guide to Liverworts of Oregon: Ptilidium californicum (Aust.) Underw.
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1b plants leafy > 3a leaves divided 1/2 or more > 4a lobe base laminar > Ptilidium 1a lobe tps attenuate > Ptilidium californicum
Synonym: None.
Special Status: None; previously treated as worthy of special conservation attention in the southern tier of counties in Oregon (Curry to Klamath County) but found at a sufficient number of sites to be dropped from all lists.
Recognition: Ptilidium is distinguished by its several leaf lobes which narrow gradually to ciliate tips. The other species of Ptilidium have cilia which are uniseriate to their bases.
Distribution: On bark or occasionally rotting wood, rarely on rock; 3000' and higher in the Coast Range and Cascade Mountains.
Comments: The scarcity of this species in low elevation forests is striking; paralleled by the moss Rhytidiopis robusta. Both of these species are abundant in the mountain hemlock forests around 5000 feet elevation but essentially absent from the lower elevation western hemlock forests.
Iron Mountain, Lane County, Oregon. DHW 12/10/91
Squirrel Peak, Curry County, Oregon. DHW m1647.
Squirrel Peak, Curry County, Oregon. DHW m1647.
Female patch. Waldo Lake, Lane County, Oregon. DHW m2699.
Copyright 2006 Northwest Botanical Institute