Amphidium lapponicum
Common names
moss
Biostatus
Native
Current conservation status
This is the first complete assessment of all known species of mosses found in the wild in Aotearoa New Zealand with a total of 560 species being assessed. The conservation status of mosses, published in the NZTCS database, replaces all previous assessments of mosses. Data supporting the 2025 NZTCS assessment of mosses has been published on the NZTCS database at https://nztcs.org.nz/reports/1155.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2025 | At Risk – Uncommon | Qualifiers: Sp, DPR, DPS, DPT, RR, S?O
Category
Non-vascular
Structural class
Mosses
Detailed description
Plants small to medium-sized, up to 35 mm tall, dark green or yellowish brown, in dense tufts. Stems erect, simple or forked, radiculose below. Leaves strongly curled and contorted when dry, narrowly oblong- to linear-lanceolate; margins irregularly and narrowly recurved below, entire or indistinctly sinuate above; costa single, strong, ending near the leaf apex, papillose on both sides; upper laminal cells rounded-hexagonal, 8–10 µm in diameter, thick-walled, very opaque, densely warty-papillose; lower cells slightly larger, rectangular, thin-walled, hyaline or pale yellowish, smooth; alar cells not differentiated. Autoicous. Perichaetial leaves greatly enlarged, entirely sheathing, broad at base, short-pointed at the apex. Setae up to 2 mm long, as long as or shorter than perichaetial leaves; capsules shortly emergent, 1.0–1.3 mm long. Spores 9–12 µm in diameter, usually smooth or nearly so.
Distribution
Indigenous. New Zealand: North and South Islands. Also China, Japan, Central Asia, Europe, Greenland, Iceland, and North America
Habitat
Terricolous on moist rocks in montane forest and subalpine scrub.
Threats
Amphidium lapponicum is known from very few sites, all of which are located within protected land. There are no known threats. For this reason Amphidium has been listed as “Naturally Uncommon” (see Glenny et al. 2011).
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Anictangium lapponicum Hedw.; Amphidium sublapponicum (C. Müll.) Broth.; Zygodon sublapponicus C. Müll.
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Fruiting
Fruiting material is known from New Zealand but there are insufficient gatherings as yet to determine periodicity
Other information
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
AMPLAP
Previous conservation statuses
This is the first complete assessment of all known species of mosses found in the wild in Aotearoa New Zealand with a total of 560 species being assessed. The conservation status of mosses, published in the NZTCS database, replaces all previous assessments of mosses. Data supporting the 2025 NZTCS assessment of mosses has been published on the NZTCS database at https://nztcs.org.nz/reports/1155.
Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
2014 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, Sp
2010 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, Sp
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Glenny, D.; Fife, A.J.; Brownsey, P.J.; Renner, M.A.M.; Braggins, J.E.; Beever, J.E.; Hitchmough, R. 2011: Threatened and uncommon bryophytes of New Zealand (2010 Revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 49: 305-327.
Attribution
Fact Sheet Prepared for NZPCN by: P.J. de Lange 26 October 2011. Description adapted from the Chinese eFlora (see http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=4&taxon_id=200000880)