SPECIES FACT SHEET
Common Name: Tufa moss, eucladium moss
Scientific Name: Eucladium verticillatum
Division: Bryophyta
Class: Bryopsida
Order: Pottiales
Family: Pottiaceae
Technical Description: Plants erect, 0.5-7 cm tall, often branched,
yellow green to dark green above to yellowish brown below. Plants may
be encrusted with white calcium precipitate. Leaves 1-2.5 mm long,
appressed or incurved-contorted when dry, erect-spreading when wet,
linear-lanceolate to linear-subulate, keeled above, acute to apiculate, flat
to channeled near the tips; basal cells rectangular to rhomboidal, thinwalled, transparent (hyaline) and smooth, contrasting conspicuously
with cells of the blade (lamina) that are subquadrate, thick-walled and
green, with several papillae per cell; margins plane, not bordered, serrate
where the leaf narrows at the transition from the hyaline basal cells to
the green laminal cells; apex acute to awl-shaped (subulate); costa
strong, occupying one-third or more of the leaf base, ending at the tip or
excurrent as a short, stout point (mucro) sometimes composed of a
sharp-pointed transparent cell, the adaxial surface of the costa
composed of papillose quadrate cells; Seta to 7-11 mm, reddish brown,
mostly straight. Capsule 0.8-2 mm long, erect, reddish brown, ovoid to
cylindrical, slightly ribbed when dry. Operculum with a beak to 0.6 mm
long. Peristome present or rudimentary. Distinctive characters: (1) dark
green sods on perennially wet calcareous rocks or seepage, (2) basal cells
enlarged and thin-walled, contrasting sharply contrasting with green,
papillose cells of the lamina, and (3) serrate margins where the basal
cells join the laminal cells. Similar species: Gymnostomum aeruginosum
has (1) enlarged thick-walled basal cells that are not as sharply
differentiated from the opaque laminal cells that are obscured by
papillae, (2) its costa ends below the apex of the leaf, and (3) no
peristome. Hymenostylium recurvirostrum has (1) one or rarely both
margins recurved, (2) the adaxial surface of the costa composed of long,
thin and smooth cells, (3) the operculum conic but not beaked, and (4)
no peristome. Other descriptions and illustrations: Lawton 1971: 98;
Flowers 1973: 132; Smith 1978: 274; Crum and Anderson 1981: 281;
Zander 1994: 246; Wishner 2005; Eckel 2007: 487.
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Life History: Details for Eucladium are not documented. The protonema
is inconspicuous, forming buds and shoots in the usual fashion of moss
growth and development.
Range, Distribution, and Abundance: Widespread but scattered in the
northern hemisphere; Europe, Asia, North America south to Mexico and
Central America, North Africa. In the Pacific Northwest, known from
British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California.
National Forests: none documented; suspected on the Rogue RiverSiskiyou, the Wallowa-Whitman, and other sites where calcareous
bedrock or seepage may occur in Oregon and Washington. Documented
from the Olympic Peninsula, but locality uncertain (Hutten et al. 2005).
BLM Districts: documented from the Salem and Medford districts;
suspected on the Coos Bay and Vale districts because of known
calcareous seepage or bedrock.
Uncommon to rare in Oregon and Washington because of scarcity of
calcareous and other basic bedrock (Brooks 1989). Probably
undercollected.
Habitat Associations: Forming dense sods on perennially wet
calcareous rocks, calcareous seepage from fractures in igneous rocks,
and around calcium-rich springs and streams where tufa formation
occurs. Elevation range from sea level to 5,000 feet. In Oregon and
Washington, it occurs mostly on limestone, marble, or serpentine, and
occasionally on fractured basalt. Eucladium verticillatum is one of a suite
of mosses that are largely limited to wet, carbonate-rich substrates in
Oregon and Washington that includes Fissidens grandifrons,
Gymnostomum species and Crumia latifolia.
Threats: Construction and maintenance of roads and trails, logging,
recreational climbing, quarrying, and overcollecting are the primary
threats. Many limestone sites on private land have already been quarried
(Brooks 1989).
Conservation Considerations: Relative rarity of carbonate or other
base-rich bedrock makes this species rare in Oregon and Washington.
Provide protection of known sites for Eucladium verticillatum on public
land through riparian buffering/management. Riparian buffers should
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adequately protect populations near streams.
abundance on calcareous rock and serpentine.
Determine the species’
Conservation rankings: Global: G4; National: NNR. British Columbia:
S2S3, Blue List; California: SNR; Montana: S1; Oregon: S3, List 4;
Washington: SNR.
Preparer: John A. Christy
Date Completed: June 2007
References
Brooks, H.C. 1989. Limestone deposits in Oregon. Oregon Department
of Geology and Mineral Industries Special Paper 19: 1-72.
Crum, H. & L.E. Anderson. 1981. Mosses of Eastern North America. 2
volumes. Columbia University Press, New York. 1328 pp.
Eckel, P.M. 2007. Eucladium. Pp. 486-488 in: Flora of North America
Editorial Committee. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Volume
27. Oxford University Press, New York. 713 pp.
Flowers, S. 1973. Mosses: Utah and the West. Brigham Young University
Press, Provo, UT. 567 pp.
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.
Norris, D.H. & J.R. Shevock. 2004. Contributions toward a bryoflora of
California: I. A specimen-based catalogue of mosses. Madroño 51: 1131.
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
Sagar, T. 2005. Images of California bryophytes.
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https://www.csun.edu/~hcbio028/
Sleath, J. 2006. Eucladium verticillatum. In: In: British mosses and
liverworts, a field guide. Provisional Publication, British Bryological
Society.
http://www.bryosoft.co.uk/fieldguide/accounts/mosses/Eucladium
verticillatum_T.pdf
Smith, A.J.E. 1978. The Moss Flora of Britain and Ireland. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. 706 pp.
Zander, R.H. 1994. Eucladium. Pp. 246 in: A.J. Sharp, H. Crum & P.M.
Eckel (eds). The Moss Flora of Mexico. 2 volumes. Memoirs of the New
York Botanical Garden 69: 1-1113.
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