''Syntrichia ruralis'', commonly known as twisted moss and star moss,
[Matthews, Robin F. 1993]
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). is a species of
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
with a
cosmopolitan distribution
In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...
. It occurs in North America, the Pacific, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North and South Africa, South America, and Australia. It grows in many types of
climate, including the
Arctic,
boreal
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
areas,
temperate areas, and
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
s. It grows in
tundra,
coniferous forest,
grassland,
sagebrush steppe, and other habitat types.
[
This moss forms tufts of erect stems up to 4 centimeters tall. When it is wet it is bright green and the leaves are loose. When it dries the leaves wrap around the stem and it becomes reddish brown in color. It is ]dioecious
Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...
. It also performs vegetative reproduction.[
Though it occurs in many types of habitat, it is usually not a ]dominant species
Ecological dominance is the degree to which one or several species have a major influence controlling the other species in their ecological community (because of their large size, population, productivity, or related factors) or make up more of ...
. The moss grows on many types of soil, but most often calcareous soils. It tolerates a variety of elevations and levels of sunlight. It may be a component in cryptogamic crusts. It helps to stabilize soil and reduce erosion. It can dry out and become dormant for many years, becoming metabolically active again after many decades of desiccation
Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container.
...
.[ It is used as a ]model organism
A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...
in studies of desiccation.[Oliver, M. J. (2010)]
Chloroplast genome sequence of the moss ''Tortula ruralis'': Gene content, polymorphism, and structural arrangement relative to other green plant chloroplast genomes.
''BMC Genomics'' 11 143.
References
External links
USDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1156618
ruralis
Plant models
Plants described in 1801