SPECIES FACT SHEET
Common Name: Compact rustwort (Edwards 2003)
Scientific Name: Marsupella condensata (Ångstr.) Schiffn.
Division: Marchantiophyta (incorrectly called Hepatophyta in U.S. government
taxon databases (e.g., ITIS 2008); see Stotler and Crandall-Stotler 2008)
Class: Jungermanniopsida
Order: Jungermanniales
Family: Gymnomitriaceae
Taxonomic note: Damsholt (2002) gives the authority for the name as (Ångstr.
ex C. Hartm.) Lindb. ex Kaal.
Technical Description: "Growing in dense, low carpets or more often mixed
with other bryophytes; shoots 0.5 to 2 cm long, 0.1 to 0.2 mm wide, stiff, dark
brown to black, when dry mostly somewhat shiny, especially at the apices of
the shoots. Stems brittle, rather richly branched, some shoots leafless or smallleaved, other shoots longer and with larger leaves, filiform or slightly clavate.
Leaves small, below more distant and smaller, above larger and more crowded,
almost transverse, imbricate, broadly ovate, concave, bilobed, sinus 0.2 to 0.25
of leaf, shallow and rounded, lunate, lobes acute and incurved. Marginal cells
about 18 µm, in the center of the leaf 15 to 20 µm, in the base up to 35 µm,
wall yellow, somewhat incrassate, trigones distinct. Cuticle smooth. Oil-bodies
2 to 3 per cell, spherical-oval, obscurely granular. Dioicous; female plants
clavate, female bracts to 3 times larger than the leaves, broader than long,
connate at the base; male plants clavate with thick, apical androecium, male
bracts larger, more imbricate, more concave at the base than the leaves.
Perianth apparently connate with the bracts in the lower 1/4, conical, reaching
to 2/3 – 3/4 of the length of the bracts, mouth crenulate and incurved." (after
Arnell [1981] with slight modification)
Distinctive Characters: Small size; leaves tightly overlapping; dark color; oilbodies in all cells. "Especially distinctive are the julaceous shoots with red-gold
to chestnut-brown secondary pigmentation and leaves with lunate sinus and
with oil-bodies in all cells including the marginal cells." (Godfrey & Schofield
1979)
Similar species: Species of Gymnomitrion are similar but these have bleached
leaf margins which lack chloroplasts and oil-bodies in marginal cells. Similar
small Marsupella species have smaller cells and leaves with an acute (never
lunate) sinuses.
Life History: This species is perennial, visible whenever the substrate is
exposed. Published studies of life history traits in this particular species have
not been located. Most perennial liverworts have an active growing season that
matches the rainy season of low elevations: October through May. Plants like
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this species, which grow at high elevations where snow lies late, generally
above 1500 m (5000 ft), may have a short growing season that coincides with
late summer and fall. Sporophytes are rare in this species (Damsholt 2002).
Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Widespread around the northern
hemisphere in boreal and montane regions, in western North America south to
Mt. Hood, Oregon.
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center only lists the species as occurring
in Hood River County in Oregon.
Reported from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, counties unspecified
(Hutten et al. 2005). Absent from the Cascades of Washington (Hong 1982).
BLM: Not expected on any BLM district.
USFS: Documented on Mt. Hood National Forest. Suspected in Columbia
River Gorge National Scenic Area and Willamette National Forest,
Oregon. Expected in all national forests with alpine habitats in
Washington.
Habitat Associations: Arctic-alpine, on peaty soil in relatively exposed sites,
where probably moist throughout the year from snowmelt. The Mt. Hood site is
on a heather slope. However, it is likely to be more closely associated with
microsite conditions than a particular vascular plant community.
Threats: Any activity which disturbs the soil in moist areas could damage
populations. Likely habitat for this species is largely confined to wilderness
areas so such threat seems minimal.
Conservation Considerations: If management actions (trail development or reroutes, or similar ground disturbing actions) are proposed near sites, consider
relocating the project to areas such that no or reduced impacts occur to the
moist areas/habitat.
Conservation Rankings and Status:
Global: G3; Oregon: S1
ORNHIC List 3
Washington: Not ranked
USFS Strategic Species in Oregon
Other pertinent information:
Surveys and Survey Protocol: Because single shoots are easily overlooked in
the field, mixed liverwort mats from the vicinity of mountain summits and
alpine ridge tops should be examined in detail under a dissecting microscope
(Paton 1999).
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Preparer: David H. Wagner
Edited by: Rob Huff
Date Completed: October, 2008
Updated in May 2009 by Candace Fallon (Update added Attachment 1, Photos,
to the Species Fact Sheet).
ATTACHMENTS:
(1)
Photos
References:
Arnell, S. 1981. Illustrated Moss Flora of Fennoscandia. I. Hepaticae.
2nd. Edition. Swedish Natural Science Research Council.
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 northwestern California.
USDI Bureau of Land Management, Oregon-Washington State Office,
Portland.
Damsholt, K. 2002. Illustrated Flora of Nordic Liverworts and Hornworts.
Nordic Bryological Society, Lund, Sweden.
Edwards, S.R. 2003. English Names for British Bryophytes. Third Edition.
British Bryological Society Special Volume No. 5.
Godfrey, J.D. and W.B. Schofield. 1979. New and interesting hepatics from
British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington State, U.S.A. II.
The Bryologist 82: 162-170.
Hong, W.S. 1982. The genus Marsupella in western North America. Lindbergia
8: 166–176.
Hutten, M, A. Woodward, and K. Hutten. 2005. Inventory of the Mosses,
Liverworts, Hornworts, and Lichens of Olympic National Park,
Washington: Species List. U.S. Geological Survey, Scientific
Investigations Report 2005-5240.
ITIS. 2008. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (official government
database of scientific names) http://www.itis.gov/index.html Accessed
June 2008.
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center. 2007. Rare, threatened and
endangered species of Oregon. Oregon Natural Heritage Information
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Center, Oregon State University. Portland.
http://oregonstate.edu/ornhic/2007_t&e_book.pdf
Paton, J.A. 1999. The liverwort flora of the British Isles. Harley Books,
Colchester, U.K.
Stotler, R.E. and B. Crandall-Stotler. 2008. Correct author citations for some
upper rank names of liverworts (Marchantiophyta). Taxon 57: 289-292.
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Attachment 1 – Photos
All photos by Dr. David Wagner, under contract with the Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land
Management.
Shoot Alaska
Clavate gynoecium
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Sterile shoot segment
Sterile shoot leaf
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