Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp.

Hylocomium splendens, commonly known as glittering woodmoss, splendid feather moss, stairstep moss, and mountain fern moss, is a perennial clonal moss with a widespread distribution in Northern Hemisphere boreal forests. It is commonly found in Europe, Russia, Alaska and Canada, where it is often the most abundant moss species. It also grows in the Arctic tundra and further south at higher elevations in, for example, northern California, western Sichuan, East Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies. In Scotland it is a characteristic species of the Caledonian Forest. Under the UK's national vegetation classification system, pinewood community W18 is named as "Pinus sylvestris-Hylocomium splendens woodland", indicating its significance in this ecosystem.

Source: Wikipedia

Synonyms 36

Amblystegium alaskanum, Hylocomium alaskanum, Hylocomium proliferum, Hypnum alaskanum, Hypnum proliferum, Hypnum splendens, Pleurozium splendens, Thuidium splendens, Hylocomium splendens subsp. alaskanum, Hylocomium splendens subsp. giganteum, Hylocomium proliferum var. alaskanum, Hylocomium proliferum var. alpinum, Hylocomium proliferum var. obtusifolium, Hylocomium splendens var. affine, Hylocomium splendens var. alaskanum, Hylocomium splendens var. alpinum, Hylocomium splendens var. brevisetum, Hylocomium splendens var. compactum, Hylocomium splendens var. fallax, Hylocomium splendens var. gracilius, Hylocomium splendens var. obtusifolium, Hylocomium splendens var. paludosum, Hylocomium splendens var. remotifolium, Hypnum proliferum var. brevisetum, Hypnum splendens var. brevisetum, Hypnum splendens var. compactum, Hypnum splendens var. gracilius, Hypnum splendens var. interruptum, Hylocomium proliferum f. alpinum, Hylocomium splendens f. affine, Hylocomium splendens f. alaskanum, Hylocomium splendens f. alpinum, Hylocomium splendens f. fallax, Hylocomium splendens f. gracilius, Hylocomium splendens f. obtusifolium, Hylocomium splendens f. paludosum

239,848 GBIF occurrences
37,371 iNaturalist observations

Conservation status code

Conservation: status label

Least Concern

Conservation: population trend

Stable

Conservation: year assessed

2019

IUCN Red List page

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/86500581/87713944

Habitats

IUCN: population narrative

This is a competitive perennial species (Dierssen 2001), forming tall, extensive, stratified yellowish green to brownish green coarse wefts or patches (Smith 2004, Casas et al. 2006). The species is dioicous and capsules are very rare in Great Britain but relatively common in some regions of Scandinavia, maturing in early spring (Blockeel et al. 2014, L. Hedenäs pers. comm. 2017). During the last part of the 20th Century, there was a tendency for the species to be eliminated from the most acidic sites due to atmospheric pollution (Farmer et al. 1992, Dierssen 2001) but there are now signs of recovery in some of these areas (Blockeel et al. 2014). Presently, the overall population size is very large and the current population trend is thought to be stable, although a decrease in relative abundance was recorded in Finland (Mäkipää and Heikkinen 2003).

IUCN: habitat narrative

This species occurs in usually acidic habitats on soil, in turf on banks, on heaths, moorland, sand-dunes, cliff ledges, roadsides, stream banks, in chalk and limestone grassland where leached, calcifuge (Smith 2004). In the Iberian Peninsula, it is mostly found on humus-rich soils in forests (Casas et al. 2006). Its altitudinal range goes from sea level up to almost 3,000 m Asl (Blockeel et al. 2014, Swissbryophytes 2018), but in the Iberian Peninsula it is mainly found in montane areas and high mountains (Casas et al. 2006).

IUCN: threats narrative

Even though this species may be locally threatened (e.g., Netherlands, Sicily) or regionally decreasing (Finland), at the European level there are no major threats to this widespread species.

IUCN: conservation narrative

This species is found in protected areas and is listed in the following national red lists: Netherlands as Vulnerable, Sicily as "at risk" and the Canary Islands as Data Deficient (Hodgetts 2015).

IUCN: rationale

European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)EU 28 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)Hylocomium splendens is a circumpolar wide-boreal species. This species is assessed as Least Concern in Europe since it has a large geographic range, the population size is very large and the current population trend is assumed to be stable. At the European level, there are no major known threats.

Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) Schimp.

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