Epipterygium opararense
Epipterygium opararense (also Epipterygium obovatum) is a species of moss from the Mniaceae family that is only known to grow in one site in the Kahurangi National Park in New Zealand's South Island. The Department of Conservation assigned it the rating of 'nationally critical' in 2002. It has been proposed for inclusion in the IUCN Red List.
From the article Epipterygium opararense on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
It has 1/2 phyllotaxy (leaves are located one above the other, rotated 180°), which is unique for the genus, which usually has 2/5; it is probably an evolutionary adaptation to the darkness of the habitat. The colour of the plants is pale green or brownish-green, while individual stalks have a yellow or red shade of brown. Several 15-mm unbranched stalks with distichously arranged single leaves grow from a common point. The leaves are elliptic; their dimensions are 1.5–2.1 × 0.7–0.85 mm; the closer they are to the base, the smaller they become. The moss is dioicous and has no sporophytes. The moss seems to be stable on granite surfaces but not elsewhere: it forms only ephemeral colonies in decaying tree trunks; the scarcity of granites in New Zealand might be the reason why the moss is so rare.
Range & habitat
Plants in the genus Epipterygium are found in humid and warm regions, with the majority being found in Central America. Epipterygium opararense is the only Epipterygium moss that grows in Australasia.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Epipterygium opararense in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 401716.