Archidium elatum
Common names
moss
Biostatus
Native – Endemic taxon
Category
Non-vascular
Structural class
Mosses
Detailed description
Dark brown-green or yellow-brown tufted moss. Individual plants 7-15 mm tall, stems simple or weakly branched, stem leaves 0.7-1 x 0.25-0.30 mm erecto-patent, spreading, occasionally reduced to bracts below. Plants sterile, archegonia present, antheridia unknown; perichaetium terminal, perichaetial leaves erect to erecto-patent, channelled, 1.3-1.5 x 0.30-0.35 mm, narrowly deltoid, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, base ovate, apex acute to broadly acuminate, margins plane or recurved, entire, occasionally serrulate; costa broad, flattened, 88 micrometre (69–115 micrometre) wide in median section, filling 1/3 or more of leaf base, subpercurrent to percurrent; median cells firm-walled, varying in shape from quadrate, trapezoidal to tabular or narrowly rhomboidal; mostly tabular to rhomboidal 20-50 x 9-12 micometre, upper cells mostly rhomboidal, reaching 50-70 micrometre along margins, alar and basal cells uniformly quadrate to short-tabular, smaller than median cells, 14-28 x 9-14 micrometre.
Distribution
Endemic to New Zealand, known from two sites in the North Island (Ahipara and the Bay of Islands) and from one site on the main Chatham (Rekohu) Island (Otauwae Point).
Substrate details
Basalt rock (at three sites)
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 | Threatened – Nationally Critical | Qualifiers: Sp, CI, TO
Threats
Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum Chiov.) has been identified as a threat and possible cause of extinction at one site. The possibility that A. elatum has been overlooked over large parts of its range must be considered highly likely.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
None
Endemic taxon
Yes
Ecology
Fruiting
Capsules unknown in this species
Other information
Plant of the Month
This plant has been featured as a Plant of the Month – see Trilepidea: NZPCN newsletter for August 2007 for the full story.
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 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP, Sp, TO
2010 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered | Qualifiers: DP, Sp, ?TO
2004 | Threatened – Nationally Endangered
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
Sainsbury, G.O.K. 1955: A Handbook of the New Zealand mosses. Royal Society of New Zealand Bulletin 5: 1-490.
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared for NZPCN by P.J. de Lange August 2007. Description based on Sainsbury (1955).