Crumia latifolia was one of the six special species recorded on the 2013 Bioblitz. The following was written by Kem Luther for the Bioblitz 2013 website
entered on iNaturalist at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33786772
” The Bioblitz moss group, (l. to r.) Wynne Miles, Olivia Lee, Steve Joya, and Kem Luther, look at Crumia latifolia. Photo by Garry Fletcher.
Garry Fletcher found this moss on a morning seashore foray along the shores of Parry Bay, at a seepage area above a rock beach. When he brought the moss back to the BioBlitz headquarters for identification, Steve Joya recognized it. The moss team made a detour in the afternoon to see Crumia in situ. “We only have a handful of collections from B.C.,” says Steve, “and these are mainly from islands in the Strait of Georgia area plus one from Limestone Island in Haida Gwaii…. I am not aware of any modern collections from Vancouver Island proper, so the Metchosin record was interesting.
Wilf Schofield, the late doyen of BC mosses, extracted this moss from a motley classification group and moved it to its own genus, naming it after the famous moss biologist, Howard Crum.”
Habitat and ID:
Crumia latifolia normally occurs on seepy shaded calcareous outcrops. The location on the Taylor bluffs is not normally considered to be calcareous.. The seeps originate from a deep glacial till layer.
- Vertical erosion bank at toe of bluffs
- Fresh water seeps at base of cliff
- Mosses growing in Fresh water seep.
- The mosses Pholia sp.and Crumia sp.
- Macrophoto of Crumia
- A clump containing Crumia latifolia
- Even in Juy, water seeps from the layers of glacial clay. Photos by Garry Fletcher
- The dark moss in the seeps is Crumia. This is on the cliff about 1 metre above the beach level
- Another moss growing in the same seeps is Brachythecium frigidum, Golden Short-Capsuled Moss.
Kingdom | Plantae – plantes, Planta, Vegetal, plants | |
Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae – green plants | ||
Infrakingdom | Streptophyta – land plants | |
Division | Bryophyta – hornworts, mosses, hépatiques, mousses, non-vascular land plants | |
Subdivision | Bryophytina – mosses | |
Class | Bryopsida | |
Subclass | Dicranidae | |
Order | Pottiales | |
Family | Pottiaceae | |
Genus | Crumia Schof. – crumia moss | |
Species | Crumia latifolia (Kindb. in Mac.) Schof. – wideleaf crumia moss |