Racomitrium sudeticum (Funck) Bruch &. Schimp. in B.S.G.


HOME         INDEX TO SPECIES         BACK TO KEY


Synonym: Bucklandiella sudetica (Funck) Bednarek-Ochyra & Ochyra
Racomitrium sudeticum (Funck) Bruch &. Schimp. in B.S.G. forma kindbergii Frisvoll

Special status: NONE

Recognition: This is a dark, smallish racomitrium that grows on rocks high in the mountains. Its short urn is a good clue. It has a leaf margin that is bistratose in one cell row and a costa that is mostly 3 stratose in the lower and middle parts. The best way to distinguish it from Racomitrium occidentale is by the adaxial costa shape in the distal half of the leaf. The abaxial side of the costa is round and smooth in Racomitrium sudeticum while there is a shallow, irregular groove on the abaxial side of the costa in Racomitrium occidentale. The hairpoint is usually short, less than 0.5 mm in Racomitrium sudeticum and longer than that in Racomitrium occidentale.

Distribution: Widspread but infrequent, in the mountains probably mostly above 5,000 feet in Oregon.

Comments: This is a critical species with a wide range of variability. I have found it only once in Oregon, on the east slope of the Cascades in Klamath County.


Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117.



Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117.



Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117.



Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117. This section is from the very base of the leaf, where the costa is flattened and irregular in outline. This should not be mistaken for the situation in R. occidentale, where a grooved, irregular abaxial costa outline is found in the distal half of most leaves.



Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117. Left: bistratose margin viewed on edge. Right: bistratose margin viewed from above.



Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117.



Racomitrium sudeticum; Cherry Peak, Klamath Co., Oregon. DHW 8117.



HOME         INDEX TO SPECIES         BACK TO KEY


Guide to Racomitrium of Oregon
Created 2007 Northwest Botanical Institute