Species Summary

BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary

Buxbaumia aphylla

Scientific Name:

Buxbaumia aphylla Hedw.

English Name:

Classification / Taxonomy

Scientific Name - Concept Reference:

Anderson, L.E., H.A. Crum, and W.R. Buck. 1990. List of the mosses of North America north of Mexico. The Bryologist 93(4):448-499.

Classification Level:

Species

Species Group:

Bryophyte

Species Code:

BUXBAPH

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
Plantae	Bryophyta	Bryopsida	Buxbaumiales	Buxbaumiaceae

Conservation Status / Legal Designation

Global Status:

G5 (Jul 2017)

Provincial Status:

S4S5 (Apr 2024)

BC List:

Yellow

Provincial FRPA list:

Provincial Wildlife Act:

COSEWIC Status:

SARA Schedule:

General Status Canada:

Ecology & Life History

General Description:

Technical Description:

Similar Species:

Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)

Global Habitat Comments:

In North America, a pioneer of disturbed, acid, sandy or clayey soils, often on the banks of roads or woodland trails, sometimes on old logs and stumps, exposed or in partial shade in moist forests and also dry, open woods, often successional to fire (Crum & Anderson 1981). In southeastern Newfoundland it occurs in Kalmia heaths (Hancock & Brassard 1973).

Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)

Elevation (m) (min / max):

Provincial:

Known Pests:

Pollen Vector:

Pollinator:

Dispersal:

Provincial Inventory

Inventory Priority:

Ownership of occurrences (Known locations):

Inventory Need:

Economic Attributes

Distribution

Endemic:

Global Range Comment:

Buxbaumia aphylla is ". widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere: Greenland; central Alaska and the Yukon to British Columbia and Montana; Michigan and Ontario to Newfoundland, southward along the Coastal Plain and also in the mountains to North Carolina. Also reported from arctic Alaska, Colorado, eastern Iowa, and southern Illinois" (Crum & Anderson 1981). Smith (1980) gives the ranges as Europe, Caucasus, N. Asia, Japan, N. America and New Zealand. Found throughout Fennoscandia (Nyholm 1954-69). Schofield (1974) provides a generalized world map of the species.

Disjunct, more common elsewhere:

Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere:

Authors / Contributors

Global Information Author:

Last Updated:

Provincial Information Author:

Last Updated:

Last Literature Search:

References and Related Literature

Flora of North America Editorial Committee (FNA). 2007b. Flora of North America north of Mexico. Vol. 27. Bryophytes: Mosses, Part 1. Oxford University Press, New York. xxi + 713 pp.

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Species Summary: Buxbaumia aphylla. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Aug 24, 2025).