Tortella cirrhata
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: DPS, DPT, RR, S?O
Category
Non-vascular
Structural class
Mosses
Detailed description
Dioicous (rarely autoicous) compact, densely tufted moss of exposed coastal rock platforms and associated compact soil. Plants bright yellow-green above, brown below. Stems 6-8 mm tall, simply or sparingly branched. Leaves 2.0-2.5 mm long, crowded, crisped when dry, erect to spreading when moist; lamina lanceolate or lanceolate-subulate, acute, concave below, with margins incurved or convolute, finely crenulate and with projecting cells in the subula. Nerve strong about 70 microns wide, narrowing and indistinct near base, excurrent, apex acute, rigid. Upper cells 8-10 microns isodiametrical, incrassate, rounded or subquadrate, smooth or faintly papillose; those above the small basal group slightly longer, shortly rectangular with rounded angles; those of the basal group itself thin-walled, hyaline, widely rectangular, 3-4 x 1, extending obliquely slightly higher up the margin. Perichaetial bracts not differentiated. Seta 10-18 mm long, slender, red to red-brown (especially toward base). Capsule 1.5-2.0 mm long, narrowly-cylindrical, pale-brown, with a reddish mouth. Annulus absent. Peristome teeth 16, inserted under the rim, short, 0.38 mm tall, nearly straight. divided to the base into two filiform, papillose. reddish-brown, obscurely nodulose segments. Operculum conico-rostrate, erect, about one-third the length of the capsule, with two cell-rows vertical, not oblique.
Distribution
Indigenous. Known in New Zealand from Te Paki (North Cape), the Hauraki Gulf Islands (Poor Knights, Mokohinau, Rangitoto), Hauturu (Clark Island near Whangamata) and Western Reef on the Chatham Islands.
Substrate details
Basalt, Rhyolite, Schist rock and associated soil. Often found growing within the splash zone, and usually in sites richly manured by sea birds and seals.
Threats
An apparently naturally uncommon species whose range may have contracted in the past through loss of habitat and nutrients caused by declining sea bird and seal numbers. In its few known locations it is reasonably common and apparently secure. Its recent (2007, 2009, 2010) recognition from North Cape (Te Paki - November 2010), Western Reef (where it was collected in January 2006 - see de Lange & Sawyer 2008) and Hauturu (Clark Island, near Whangamata December 2009) suggests it is more widespread than had once been believed.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Tortella mooreae Sainsbury, Trichostomum eckelianum R.H. Zander
Endemic taxon
No
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Fruiting
October - December (may be present throughout the year)
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.
TORCIR
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: DP, RR, S?O
2010 | At Risk – Naturally Uncommon | Qualifiers: RR, S?O
Referencing and citations
References and further reading
de Lange, P.J.; Sawyer, J.W.D. 2008: Flora of Western Reef, Chatham Islands. New Zealand Journal of Botany 46: 425-431.
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 5 November 2007. Description from Sainsbury (1955) - as Tortella mooreae.
NZPCN Fact Sheet citation
Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Tortella cirrhata Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/tortella-cirrhata/ (Date website was queried)