Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries
Slender thread-moss (Orthodontium gracile)
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Slender thread-moss fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Slender thread-moss description
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Bryophyta |
| Class | Bryopsida |
| Order | Bryales |
| Family | Bryaceae |
| Genus | Orthodontium |
Slender thread-moss grows in bright green cushions, and closely resembles a much commoner species Orthodontium lineare. It requires an expert to tell them apart, but slender thread-moss has slightly narrower leaves. Mosses are difficult plants to identify, needing knowledge and a scientific field guide to be sure of which species you are looking at.
- Size
- Length: up to 10 mm
Slender thread-moss biology
Mosses are plants, but they belong to the lower orders. They do not produce flowers or seeds, but reproduce by spores or vegetatively. Neither do mosses have a vascular system for conveying sap, nor do they have roots to absorb water. Mosses have rhizoids, which fulfil the role of a root system in anchoring the plant to a surface. Water and nutrients are absorbed over the entire surface of the plant.
TopSlender thread-moss range
This moss has a wide world range, being found in western France, North and South America, and tropical Africa. In the UK since 1970, it has been recorded in East Sussex, Cheshire, mid-West Yorkshire and Midlothian.
More »
Species with a similar range
|
You can view distribution information for this species at the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Slender thread-moss habitat
In the UK, slender thread-moss grows on damp, shaded, vertical, acid rock surfaces, and sometimes in crevices. In France, it is found on sandy soil at the base of trees, and occasionally, on rotting wood. It has very occasionally been recorded on rotting wood in England.
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Slender thread-moss status
Classified as Vulnerable in the UK. Classified as Endangered in Europe.
TopSlender thread-moss threats
Never a common species, slender thread-moss may possibly have declined through the introduction of the similar O. lineare. Other factors may be due to changes in the microclimate or acidic water pollution.
TopSlender thread-moss conservation
Slender thread-moss is listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plans (UKBAPs), and included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme (SRP). This moss's existence may be precarious, and all the sites where it is known to occur are protected. It is also being grown
|
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan for this species is available at UK BAP. |
|
|
There may be further information about this species available via the National Biodiversity Network Gateway. |
Authentication
Information supplied by English Nature.
http://www.english-nature.org.uk
Glossary
- Ex-situ
- Measures to conserve a species or habitat that occur outside of the natural range of the species. E.g. in zoos or botanical gardens.
- Rhizoids
- Thread-like structures that help to anchor the plant to the substrate, and absorb minerals and water. In liverworts they consist of a single cell, in mosses they are multi-cellular.
- Spores
- Microscopic particles involved in both dispersal and reproduction. They comprise a single or group of unspecialised cells and do not contain an embryo, as do seeds.
- Vascular system
- In plants, the system that allows water and nutrients to move around.
- Vegetative reproduction
- Type of asexual reproduction (reproduction without recombination of genetic material) that results in the propagation of plants using only the vegetative tissues such as leaves or stems. The resulting plant is genetically identical to the original plant. A well-known example of this is the reproduction of strawberry plants from 'runners'.
References
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Slender thread-moss
© British Bryological Society / National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff
National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP
United Kingdom
biosyb@nmgw.ac.uk
http://www.nmgw.ac.uk/nmgc/
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.