Dawsonia (genus)

A moss at Canberra Central, ACT

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Identification history

	Dawsonia (genus)	17 Sep 2015	MichaelMulvaney
	Unidentified	15 Sep 2015	KenT

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User's notes

Western side of Black Mountain on steep south-facing bank of an erosion gully.

5 comments

Heino wrote:

17 Sep 2015

Probably a species of Dawsonia (but a mature spore capsule would clearly show whether it's that genus or Polytrichum). Two photos show immature capsules, still with their pinkish, hairy coverings (technically calyptrae). You can see a mature Dawsonia capsule at http://www.cpbr.gov.au/bryophyte/photos-captions/dawsonia-sp-81.html and some Polytrichum capsules at http://www.cpbr.gov.au/bryophyte/photos-captions/polytrichum-juniperinum-65.html. The third photo shows the apical, circular pads where sperm are produced. One Polytrichum found locally has strikingly red pad, shown at http://www.cpbr.gov.au/bryophyte/photos-captions/polytrichum-commune-171.html.

KenT wrote:

20 Sep 2015

Thanks Heino! is there a checklist for the bryophytes of the ACT or southern tablelands region?

Heino wrote:

22 Sep 2015

Alas, KenT, no such checklist yet.

KenT wrote:

23 Sep 2015

Thanks Heino, I assume then that the bryophyte records have not been transferred into an electronic database?

Heino wrote:

23 Sep 2015

KenT, depends on what you mean by bryophyte records. You can get to the databased records of Australian herbarium collections via Australia's Virtual Herbarium (AVH). Go to http://avh.chah.org.au/ and select search. There you can select spatial search, draw a simple shape on a map and find out what herbarium specimens come from that area. Filter your search by selecting bryophytes (under botanical groups in the left hand panel) to get just the bryophytes. You can look then choose to look at the list of records. This is not a checklist since many species will be listed more than once (since the AVH lists records of collections). The AVH gives you whatever identification somebody stuck on a specimen, so there may be the odd error. Still, you may find the AVH search useful to some degree, pending the production of a checklist with verified identifications. Let me know if my instructions are too vague.

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