SPECIES FACT SHEET
Common Name: Broad-leaved stink moss, Serrate dung moss
Scientific Name: Tayloria serrata
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Bryopsida
Order: Funariales
Family: Splachnaceae
Technical Description: Plants erect, to 3 cm tall, stems with brown
rhizoids below. Leaves 3-4 mm long, yellow-green, shriveled and
contorted when dry, widest beyond the middle, with pointed tips, the
margins toothed in the upper half of the leaf, translucent because of
large, thin-walled cells, but with no differentiated border cells. Costa
prominent at back of leaf, brown or reddish. Setae 7-20 mm long,
flexuose, red or orange. Capsules cylindric, 1-2 mm long, subtended by a
narrower, shrunken mass of specialized tissue of about the same length,
tapering to the seta, both reddish brown to black. Capsules abundant
and conspicuous when present. Distinctive characters: (1) Obovate
leaves with pointed tips, serrate margins, and no borders, and (2)
narrow, cylindric, reddish brown or black capsules not subtended by
swollen specialized tissue.
Similar species: Other species of Tayloria have blunt, rounded leaf tips
or bordered leaves. Sterile leafy plants are very similar to leafy shoots of
species of Funaria, except that Funaria (1) usually has teeth small and
restricted to the apical region, and (2) usually grows only on mineral
substrates. Sterile leafy plants can also be mistaken for Bryum or one if
its segregate genera, but these (1) lack conspicuous teeth on the leaves
and (2) have bordered leaves. Tetraplodon mnioides has (1) no teeth on
the leaves, (2) and its capsules are usually subtended by a slightly more
swollen mass of tissue. Other descriptions and illustrations: Sayre
1935: 95; Nyholm 1956: 180; Lawton 1971: 160; Crum and Anderson
1981: 486; Christy and Wagner 1996: VII-73; Harpel (no date); Montalvo
(no date).
Life History: Tayloria serrata and other dung mosses depend on flies to
disperse their sticky spores. They attract flies by exuding foul-smelling
compounds from specialized and often conspicuously swollen or colored
tissues immediately below the capsule, using visual as well as olfactory
cues. The odor varies from dung to carrion. Because of the ephemeral
substrate, Tayloria may disappear from a locality the following season.
Capsules develop in the summer and fall. On the Medford BLM District,
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Tayloria serrata appears to be the first moss to colonize dung (Stone
2006).
Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Circumboreal. In the Pacific
Northwest, found in Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta, Montana,
Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Norris and Shevock (2004) could not
verify the record from California reported by Sayre (1935) and repeated in
Christy and Wagner (1996).
National Forests: Documented on the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie,
Okanogan/Wenatchee, Mt. Hood and Rogue River-Siskiyou forests;
suspected by the Olympic, Siuslaw, Umpqua, and Willamette NFs.
BLM Districts: Documented on Eugene, Roseburg, Medford and Salem
Districts; suspected on Coos Bay District.
Rare, probably undercollected.
Habitat Associations: Forming green sods on old dung, rotten wood, or
on soil enriched by dung on roadsides, trails, in dry to moist coniferous
forest of various age classes including early seral, and in wetlands.
Decomposed dung may be scarcely visible or completely humified.
Tayloria serrata has a broader ecological tolerance than Splachum or
Tetraplodon. Known habitat extends from Abies grandis, Calocedrus
decurrens, Pinus ponderosa, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Quercus
garryana associations at elevations as low as 15 feet (e.g. Hutten et al.
2005) to Abies concolor, Abies grandis, Abies lasiocarpa, Abies procera
and Tsuga mertensiana associations up to 5000 feet. Many of the records
of Tayloria from the Pacific Northwest were made before 1910. Possibly, it
was more common because of the greater amount of horse and cow
manure along roads and trails in days before the automobile, and more
remote populations were just not documented.
Threats: Construction and maintenance of roads and trails, and
scientific collecting are possible threats. Despite efforts to protect known
sites, Tayloria will disappear in a few years as nutrient enrichment from
dung dissipates.
Conservation Considerations: Revisit all known localities to reconfirm
presence of populations, and search for new populations. Manage
populations and sites for a year or two, with monitoring, to allow them to
complete their life cycles and disperse spores to new habitats.
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Conservation rankings: Global: G4; National: NNR. Oregon: S2, List 2;
Washington: S1; Idaho S1; Montana S1; British Columbia: SNR.
Preparer: John A. Christy
Date Completed: September 2006. Revised May 2007 with edits from Rob Huff,
Russ Holmes, and Daphne Stone. Revised March 2009 to update status on Salem
BLM District (changed from Documented to Suspected). Revised August 2011 by
Rob Huff, to update field units considering this species to be Documented or
Suspected.
References
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. 222 pp.
Crum, H. & L.E. Anderson. 1981. Mosses of Eastern North America. 2
volumes. Columbia University Press, New York. 1328 pp.
Harpel, J.S. (no date). Fact sheet for Tayloria serrata. Washington
Natural Heritage Program.
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/fguide/pdf/tayser.pdf
search=%22%22Tayloria%20serrata%22%22
Hutten, M., A. Woodward & 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. 78 pp.
Lawton, E. 1971. Moss Flora of the Pacific Northwest. Hattori Botanical
Laboratory, Nichinan, Japan. 362 pp.
Montalvo, A. (no date). Tayloria serrata. Images of California bryophytes.
https://www.csun.edu/~hcbio028/TaSePibus132.gif
Norris, D.H. & J.R. Shevock. 2004. Contributions toward a bryoflora of
California: I. A specimen-based catalogue of mosses. Madroño 51: 1131.
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Nyholm, E. 1954-1969. Illustrated Moss Flora of Fennoscandia. Vol. 2.
Musci. CWK Gleerup, Lund, and Natural Science Research Council,
Stockholm. 799 pp.
Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center. 2007. Rare, threatened and
endangered species of Oregon. Oregon Natural Heritage Information
Center, Oregon State University. Portland. 100 pp.
http://oregonstate.edu/ornhic/2007_t&e_book.pdf
Sayre, G. 1935. Family Splachnaceae. Pp. 89-102 in: Grout, A.J. Moss
Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol. 2. Published by the
author. Newfane, Vermont.
Stone, D. 2006. Personal communication to John Christy.
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