| Ptilidium californicum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Jungermanniopsida |
| Order: | Ptilidiales |
| Family: | Ptilidiaceae |
| Genus: | Ptilidium |
| Species: | P. californicum |
| Binomial name | |
| Ptilidium californicum (Austin) Pearson | |
Ptilidium californicum, the Pacific fuzzwort, is a rare liverwort of the western United States.
The plants are dioicous, small but medium-sized for a liverwort, from golden-green to golden, but more typically reddish-brown, or dilute purplish-red, or coppery red, resembling a dense fuzzy mat, occurring in small or large patches. Shoots are less than 1½ mm wide. Leaves are incubous (decurrent on the dorsal stem surface) and deeply bilobed, with each lobe divided 1–3 times, elongated, narrowly lanceolate, deeply divided. The lobe margins are entire, with 1 or 2 long, slender, cilia-like projections along the lobes margins and at lobe apices. The leaves are so closely overlapping that only a mass of ciliate projections is visible under a hand lens. The underleaves are prominent, wider than the stem but about or less than half the size of the leaves, 2–3 clefted, and with ciliate margins (even more finely divided into slender projections). The frequent perianths are plicate and narrowed to a ciliate mouth. Sporophytes are abundant from May to August. [1] [2] [3] [4]
In the past, this plant has been reported from Russia and Japan, but recent literature calls it an endemic of the west coast of North America, ranging from southeastern Alaska to northern California. [1] [2]
This plant has a narrow environmental specificity; it is found in (and serves as an indicator species of) old-growth forest. It is typically epiphytic on bark at the base of standing mature to old-growth trees ( Abies concolor , A. magnifica , and Pseudotsuga menziesii ) or recently fallen logs; rarely on other organic substrates such as decaying logs and stumps, or humus covering boulders. At the southern end of its range (Oregon and California) this species is distinctly restricted to middle elevation forests. Its elevational range is from 1,275–5,725 feet (389–1,745 m). [1] [2] [4] [5]
The fire ecology of this plant is not known; however, fires in old-growth habitat might negatively affect P. californicum because of smoke, or from excessively opening the canopy. Severe fires that destroy old-growth trees would likely extirpate populations.
The plant is on the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region Sensitive Species list, and has a NatureServe California State Rank of S3 and a Global Rank of G4.
The survival of Ptilidium californicum in the southern end of its range (i.e., northern California) depends upon the protection of the known sites as dispersal sources. [1] The major threat facing P. californicum is loss of populations due to management activities that directly or indirectly impact the habitat or populations by disrupting stand conditions necessary for its survival. These include treatments such as the removal of colonized substrate, stand treatments that result in changes in microclimatic conditions or forest structure, or harvest of special forest products that may include individuals of this taxon. Spray paint used to mark 'leave,' 'take,' and 'wildlife' trees within project areas severely impact on this species. [4] Liverwort diversity and abundance are strongly affected by forest age, and both components are much greater in old-growth forests. [5] Therefore, the loss of old-growth habitats poses another threat to this species.
The leaves with many lobes divided into slender cilia make this species unmistakable. [1]
The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.
Tsuga heterophylla, the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma County, California. The Latin species name means 'variable leaves'.
Acer circinatum, or vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America. Vine maple typically grows as a low-elevation costal tree in temperate areas of high precipitation such as the west coast of Oregon and northern California, as well as the rain forests of Washington State and British Columbia. Vine maples play an important role in conserving the biodiversity of lowland ecosystems by enriching upper soil layers and providing habitat for other organisms.
Fremontodendron californicum, with the common names California flannelbush, California fremontia, and flannel bush, is a flowering shrub native to diverse habitats in southwestern North America.
Artemisia californica, also known as California sagebrush, is a species of western North American shrub in the sunflower family.
Bruchia bolanderi is a rare plant of the Western U.S.: Oregon, California, and Nevada. It grows on very damp bare soil. One may distinguish it from other mosses by the capsules, which are shaped like little upside-down pear fruits.
Helodium blandowii, also known as Blandow's helodium moss, Blandow's tamarisk-moss, Blandow's bogmoss, and Blandow's feathermoss, is a rare plant in the Western U.S., including Oregon and California. It occurs all around the northern hemisphere in higher latitudes, and in some places is not as rare as in the Western U.S.
Meesia triquetra, the three-ranked hump-moss, is a moss that occurs all around the northern hemisphere in higher latitudes.
Meesia uliginosa, the broad-nerved hump-moss, is a rare moss of the Western U.S. It occurs all around the northern hemisphere in higher latitudes, and in some places is not as rare as in the Western U.S.
Campanula shetleri is a rare species of bellflower known by the common name Castle Crags bellflower. The plant is named for Castle Crags, a mountain formation in its limited native range, within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.
Fremontodendron mexicanum is a rare species of shrub in the mallow family known by the common names Mexican flannelbush, Mexican fremontia, and Southern flannelbush, that is endemic to the central Peninsular Ranges in Mexico and the United States.
Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–2,200 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 115.9 m (380.1 ft) in height and up to 8.9 m (29 ft) in diameter at breast height. These trees are also among the longest-living organisms on Earth. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 810,000 ha along much of coastal California and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States.
Frullania asagrayana is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the family Frullaniaceae that grows in eastern North America.
Ptilidium is a genus of liverwort, and is the only genus in family Ptilidiaceae. It includes only three species: Ptilidium californicum, Ptilidium ciliare, and Ptilidium pulcherrimum. The genus is distributed throughout the arctic and subarctic, with disjunct populations in New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego. Molecular analysis suggests that the genus has few close relatives and diverged from other leafy liverworts early in their evolution.
Ribes californicum, with the common name hillside gooseberry, is a North American species of currant. It is endemic to California, where it can be found throughout many of the California Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges in local habitat types such as chaparral and woodlands.
Lobaria oregana, also known as lettuce lichen and as Oregon lungwort, is a species of foliose lichen occurring in North American old-growth forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest in Washington state. Taking its common name from its lettuce-like appearance, the lichen grows in the tree canopy but falls to the forest floor, where it is consumed by deer, elk, and other animals. The species was first described by American botanist Edward Tuckerman in 1874 as Sticta oregana, and later (1889) transferred to the genus Lobaria by Swiss lichen specialist Johannes Müller Argoviensis. Via cyanobacteria, it fixes nitrogen from the air, which then enters the local ecosystem when eaten or when absorbed by rootlets which the host trees extend from their own bark into the lichen.
Ptilidium ciliare is a liverwort with the common names ciliated fringewort and northern naugehyde liverwort. It is widespread in Canada, Alaska, the northeastern United States, Greenland, Iceland, and northern Europe occasionally as far south as northern Italy.
Mylia taylorii, or Taylor's flapwort, is a species of leafy liverwort.
Erythranthe suksdorfii, with the common names Suksdorf's monkeyflower and miniature monkeyflower, is an annual flowering plant in the family Phrymaceae (Lopseed). It was formerly known as Mimulus suksdorfii. A specimen collected in Washington state in 1885 by the self-taught immigrant botanist Wilhelm Nikolaus Suksdorf was identified as a new species by Asa Gray in 1886, who named it in Suksdorf's honor. It can easily be misidentified with Erythranthe breviflora, which generally has elliptic leaves rather than the linear or oblong leaves found in E. suksdorfii.
Papaver heterophyllum, previously known as Stylomecon heterophylla, and better known as the wind poppy, is a winter annual herbaceous plant. It is endemic to the western California Floristic Province and known to grow in the area starting from the San Francisco Bay Area of Central Western California southwards to northwestern Baja California, Mexico. Its main habitat is often described as mesic and shady, with loamy soils such as soft sandy loam, clay loam, and leaf mold loam.
