Family BRACHYTHECIACEAE

Common Name

MENZIES' METANECKERA

Microhabitat

This moss is usually found as an epiphyte on trunks of maple trees and also on rocky surfaces, especially in shaded areas.

Distribution

Metaneckera menziesii is a widespread species. It is found in Europe, western Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. In the New World it is distributed in western North America from southeastern Alaska to California, and east as far as Alberta, Montana, and South Dakota.

Gametophytes growing on a tree trunk
Photo Credit: Yan Zhuang

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Morphology

A small moss of about 4 to up to 20 cm long, M. menziesii is usually found hanging from tree branches. Its undulate leaves and flattened shoots with regular lateral branching are diagnostic. This moss is usually a golden brownish green colour. The sporophytes are located immersed in the underside of the shoots and are difficult to observe without a hand lens. Male plants produce bulb-like structures on the lateral shoots.

Key identifying features

This moss can be recognized by its flattened shoots with wavy leaves, its regular branching pattern, and its epiphytic habit hanging from the trunks of living trees. The shoots are flattened so that the leaves appear to be growing in one plane, even though they are spirally inserted. Some Neckera species look like M. menziesii, but some characteristics differentiate them, for example in N. pennata the leaves are glossy while another species, N. douglasii, lacks branchlets and its colour is pale yellow. Buckiella undulata also has flattened shoots and wavy leaves, but this species has an irregular branching pattern, longer sporophytes, and is not epiphytic.

Interesting notes

The specific epithet honours Archibald Menzies, a surgeon and naturalist who traveled with Captain George Vancouver on the expedition to western North America in the 18th century. Menzies collected the specimen that was used to describe this species. This species is considered threatened in Valencia (Spain).

Selected References

App, B.P., and Rzberger, P.E. 2005. The Bryophyte flora of Golija-Studenica biosphere reserve and some adjunct sites (SW, Serbia-Montenegro). Studia Bot. Hung. 36: 101-116.

Gimeno C.P, Puche, F.S., Segarra, J.G., and Laguna, E. 2001. Modelo de conservación de la flora briológica en la Comunidad Valenciana: microrreservas de flora criptogámica. Bot. Complutensis 25: 221-231.

Pojar, J., and MacKinnon, A. 2004. Plants of Coastal British Columbia, including Oregon, Washington and Alaska (revised edition). Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, Canada.

Schofield, W.B. 1992. Some common mosses of British Columbia, 2nd ed. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, Canada.

By Isidro Ojeda

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© 2006 Department of Botany, University of British Columbia