Aims of this Website

This website provides an up-datable list of the *tot_sp* bryophytes documented by specimens collected from North Carolina. The term bryophytes, which literally means moss plants, is used in two ways. As used in current scientific literature they actually consist of three groups of plants: hornworts, which are members of the Phylum Anthocerotophyta; liverworts, which are members of Phylum Marchantiophyta; and mosses, which are in Phylum Bryophyta. More generally, the term refers to all the small phytosynthetic land plants classified in these three groups.

These plants have no true roots, flowers or seeds. Vascular tissue is present in some mosses. This tissue is organized into a hydrom that contains hydroids and a leptom tissue that contans leptoids. These cells function in water and photosynthate materials transport, respectively, but contain no lignin that would, if presrnt, add rigidity to vascular plant cellulose. The hydrom is analagous to the xylem of vascular plants and the leptom is analagous to the phloem.

They are further characterized by dominance of a gametophyte generation. Currently in North Carolina, these three groups consist of *horn* hornworts, *liver* liverworts, and *moss* mosses. All are characteristic of habitats occurring throughout North Carolina’s four major physiographic provinces, Coastal Plain, Sandhills, Piedmont and Mountains.

As a part of this website we will provide an expanding compendium of information that can assist anyone studying bryophytes by way of interpreting, identifying and coming to understand these amazing little plants.

How to Use This Website

To access the list, click on View List in the menu. The bryophyte checklist has been formatted into the following 14 columns:

Phylum Taxon that includes all classes.

Family Taxon that includes all genera.

Scientific name Latinized bi- or trinomial used to name a species, subspecies or variety.

Author Standardized name(s) used to identify the species’ authority.

Common name A common or coloquial call name applied to a taxon. Common names are not currently standardized.

Accepted name A currently accepted scientific name.

Tropicos Link goes to the Tropicos website: Tropicos®, a registered trademark, was created by the Missouri Botanical Garden (MOBOT) as an internal taxonomic search device, since opened to the general bryological community.

Bryophyte portal This link provides access to The Consortium of North American Bryophyte Herbaria (CNABH), which offers a variety of tools to locate, access and work with bryophyte specimen data in cooperating herbaria.

Global Rank This is the measure of the relative rarity or commonness of a taxon globally. The criteria were developed by NatureServe, and their staff code the appropriate rank for each taxon.
   G1 = Critically imperiled globally. Typically 5 or fewer occurrences or very few remaining individuals (<1,000).
   G2 = Imperiled globally. Typically 6-20 occurrences or few remaining individuals (1,000 – 3,000).
   G3 = Vulnerable globally. Typically 21-100 occurrences or between 3,000 and 10,000 individuals.
   G4 = Apparently secure globally. Usually more than 100 occurrences or more than 10,000 individuals.
   G5 = Demonstrably secure globally.
   GH = Historical; known only from historical occurrences, but with some expectation that it may be rediscovered.
   GX = Presumed extinct.
   GNA = Not applicable. Not a suitable target for conservation.
   Q = Questionable taxonomy.
   T_ = the rank of a subspecies of variety. For example, G4T1 indicates that the species is apparently secure globally, but the subspecies or variety is critically imperiled.
   _NR = Not yet ranked by NatureServe.
   ? = Uncertain rank; denotes an inexact or uncertain numeric rank.

State Rank This is the measure of the relative rarity or commonness of a taxon in the state. The criteria were developed by NatureServe, and each state’s natural heritage program staff code the appropriate rank for each taxon.
  S1 = Critically imperiled in the state. Typically 5 or fewer occurrences or very few remaining individuals (<1,000).
 S2 = Imperiled in the state. Typically 6-20 occurrences or few remaining individuals (1,000 – 3,000).
 S3 = Rare or uncommon in the state. Typically 21-100 occurrences or between 3,000 and 10,000 individuals.
 S4 = Apparently secure in the state. Usually more than 100 occurrences or more than 10,000 individuals.
 S5 = Demonstrably secure in the state.
 SH = Of historical occurrence, last record over 20 years ago, with at least some effort to relocate occurrences. Some expectation that it can be rediscovered.
 SX = Presumed extirpated in the state.
 SE = Exotic, presumed not native to the state.
 SU = Unknown; unrankable due to lack of, or conflicting, information about status or population trends.
 SR = Reported, but without conclusive documentation.
 SRF = Reported falsely; reported in the state but almost certainly is not present
 ? = Uncertain rank; denotes an inexact or uncertain numeric rank.

NHP Status This is the endangerment status for each taxon in the state. Taxa with no state status have this field blank on the plant list. E, T, and SC statuses are legal designations by the NC Plant Conservation Program. SR and W statuses are provided by the NC NHP.
E = Endangered
T = Threatened
SC-V = Special Concern – Vulnerable
SC-H = Special Concern – Historical
SR = Significantly Rare. Any taxon not already listed as E, T, or SC but which is rare in the state and needs monitoring.
SR-D = The species is disjunct to the state from a main range in a different part of the country or world.
SR-L = The range of the species is limited to North Carolina and adjacent states (endemic or near endemic).
SR-P = The species is at the periphery of its range in North Carolina.
SR-T = The species is rare throughout its range.
SR-O = The range of the species is sporadic or cannot be described by other Significantly Rare categories.

Watch List Any taxon that is rare or otherwise threatened with serious decline but for which current information does not justify placement on the main list (as E, T, SC, or SR).
W1 = Rare, but relatively secure.
W2 = Rare, but taxonomically questionable.
W3 = Rare, but of uncertain documentation.
W4 = Rare, but possibly or perhaps not native.
W5 = Rare because of severe decline.
W6 = Regionally rare. Maybe be uncommon to abundant in much of the state, but of concern in one region.
W7 = Rare and poorly known.

---

Citation: Amoroso, J.L., B. Aguero, D. DuMond, and T. Howard. 2024. The Bryophytes of North Carolina [Internet]. Raleigh (NC): North Carolina Biodiversity Project and North Carolina State Parks. Available from https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/bryophytes/index.php.

What is a Bryophyte?

We now know that the word bryophyte can be used in two different ways to refer to these small to tiny non-flowering, non-vascular, photosynthetic plants. We also know that there are several characters that apply to hornworts, liverworts and mosses that separate them from larger, vascular and/or flowering plants. The outstanding character that separates bryophytes from vascular plants and, indeed, from most organisms, is that during their life cycle their alternation of generations demonstrates they possess a free-living dominant gametophyte (haploid) phase and a short sporophyte(diploid) phase that is wholly dependent on the gametophyte. This condition renders these small organisms as unusual in the world of land plants.

The character of gametophytic dominance clearly separates bryophytes from seed plants where the gametophyte generation is not so readily apparent. In bryophytes, the gametophyte generation begins following special cell divisions, or reduction division, called meioses in a sporangium, which has grown from an archegonium following zygote formation at the time of union of sperm and egg (gametes). The zygote is the first cell of a short, dependant sporophytic or diploid generation, during which meiosis happens in the sporangium that forms in and erupts from a gametophytic archegonium following fertilization. The sporangium, or capsule, releases haploid spores.

Spores released from the sporangium are considered n or 1n, having only half the number of somatic chromosomes of the sporophyte structures. These haploid spores germinate, undergo cell division and greatly expand to become plants representing the dominant gametophytic or haploid generation. There is a great diversity of haploid vegetative structures, representing species-specific forms that aid in vegetative (asexual) reproduction, dispersal and growth as a part of the gametophyte generation portion of the life cycle. These haploid plants are what you see growing on soil, trees, rocks and other surfaces, or substrates, almost everywhere.

The dominant gametophytic generation of bryophytes is usually the most visible material we collect and examine to make decisions about what phylum, family, genus and species a plant represents. In other words, the structures of the gametophyte are part of what we use to identify bryophytes. Further, characteristics of the structures representing the sporophyte generation can also aid in identification. Collecting representative material of both generations is best, when possible. Thus, one must become familiar with both sporophytes and gametophytes of bryophytes.

Familiarity comes through careful study using a hand lens, a dissecting microscope, and a compound microscope. Bryophytes are small, but, nonetheless, are amazingly variable. Herein lies one of the major reasons bryophytes are part of an almost unseen world for most students. They are easily passed, overlooked or just ignored, while the hardware needed to really see them is expensive and rarely accessible to an aspiring student. A section on various sorts of magnification devices will soon be included in this website.

The word moss can be a very general term used in everyday speech to refer to a variety of flowering plants (Spanish moss, pixie moss), marine and freshwater algae, and even lichens, which are actually composed of fungi and algae. The word is also used to generalize about hornworts, liverworts and real mosses. Any of that little green stuff seen growing on trees, rocks, water, etc. is often simply referred to as moss. Beware of imitations! Become familiar with real bryophytes and learn to separate them from other plant forms.

How can you Identify Bryophytes?

Identification of bryophytes can be accomplished in several ways. You can collect what you might wish to identify and question someone who might know. That may be your first step in the field, but it soon becomes tiresome for you and the people you are questioning. As in any biological discipline, learning organisms of any sort requires that you learn the words needed to converse about or describe them. These words are the basis of a sort of technical language that may become quite specific for each set of organisms. This language is how you talk about bryophytes, too. Definitions of these words are written into glossaries found in identification manuals, in on-line glossaries and are the subject of individual dictionaries.

Identification manuals come in several forms, those that are generally complete and cover all the known species of a region and those that cover only common species. Beware of the latter since they may let you down by being only partially inclusive. However, such partially inclusive texts can be a place to begin. Understand that they may not represent the universe, so to speak, where you live or are trying to study bryophytes. They may have an abbreviated protocol for identification and depend largely on use of pictures, which, of course can be extremely useful.

There are many texts covering portions of North America that will serve you well when you become familiar with the language found in identification keys and when you learn to understand illustrated renditions of bryophyte structures. In such manuals, keys are the most important means of identifying these little plants and magnification will be needed to see diagnostic structures adequately. Some resources, regional manuals and other identification guides useful for identification of bryophytes in North Carolina, are listed below. There is a growing set of useful identification resources becming available on line.