Abietinella abietina(Hedw.) M.Fleisch.

Wiry Fern Mossabietinella moss

WFO wfo-0001147534 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Abietinella abietina, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. a Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 205927863
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. b Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 205922518
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. c Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201358402
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. d Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201497861
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. e Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201220521
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Denys Vynokurov
fig. f Denys Vynokurov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198187413
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. g Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198321920
Abietinella abietina, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. h Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195025852

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,001 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -19.8 °C -9.3 °C -1.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.1 °C 23.1 °C 26.0 °C
Annual rainfall 436 mm 672 mm 1,346 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 36 mm 108 mm 245 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 2,001 research-grade observations of Abietinella abietina that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 25 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Abietinella brandisii (Müll.Hal.) Broth.
  • Abietinella giraldii Müll.Hal.
  • Abietinella hystricosa (Mitt.) Broth.
  • Hypnum abietinum Hedw.
  • Hypnum abietinum var. abietinum
  • Hypnum brandisii Müll.Hal.
  • Leskea abietina (Hedw.) Mitt.
  • Stereodon abietinus (Hedw.) Brid.
  • Thuidium abietinum (Hedw.) Schimp.
  • Thuidium abietinum f. bulbosum H.A.Möller
  • Thuidium abietinum f. repens Arnell ex H.A.Möller
  • Thuidium abietinum f. viride Matousch.
  • Thuidium abietinum subsp. abietinum
  • Thuidium abietinum subsp. hystricosum (Mitt.) Kindb.
  • Thuidium abietinum subsp. pachycladon Kindb.
  • Thuidium abietinum var. acutifolium Papp
  • Thuidium abietinum var. gracile J.J.Amann
  • Thuidium abietinum var. hystricosum (Mitt.) Loeske & Lande
  • Thuidium abietinum var. intermedium Loeske
  • Thuidium abietinum var. majus Hamm.
  • Thuidium abietinum var. paludosum Meyl.
  • Thuidium abietinum var. viride Torka
  • Thuidium brandisii (Müll.Hal.) A.Jaeger
  • Thuidium giraldii (Müll.Hal.) Paris

and 1 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite. It has no native range either: Kew's checklist does not cover this taxon.