Aulacomnium palustre(Hedw.) Schwägr.

aulacomnium moss

WFO wfo-0001192478 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Tatiana Strus
fig. a Tatiana Strus, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205102541
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Carol Ann Vermeer
fig. b Carol Ann Vermeer, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205439097
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Валерия Ковалева
fig. c Валерия Ковалева, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204340690
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by CorentinD
fig. d CorentinD, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202766833
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Randal
fig. e Randal, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200642195
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Randal
fig. f Randal, CC0 1.0 / obs. 198291621
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. g Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 199128871
Aulacomnium palustre, photographed by Violet T.
fig. h Violet T., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191201987

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 2,010 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -21.5 °C -6.5 °C 1.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.5 °C 22.0 °C 28.8 °C
Annual rainfall 517 mm 845 mm 2,166 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 59 mm 143 mm 341 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 2,010 research-grade observations of Aulacomnium palustre 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 93 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.

  • Aulacomnium androgynum var. pygmaeum Holz. & Frye
  • Aulacomnium marginatum (Ångstr.) A.Jaeger
  • Aulacomnium marginatum var. andinum Herzog
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. acuminatum (Venturi) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. adpressum Hamm.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. alpestre (Schimp.) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. angustifolium Kabiersch
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. breutelioides (Molendo) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. compactum Kabiersch
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. congestum (Boulay) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. laxum C.E.O.Jensen
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. papillosum (Müll.Hal.) Kabiersch
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. philonotoides (Matousch.) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. polycephalum (Brid.) Kabiersch
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. submersum (Sanio ex Limpr.) Mönk.
  • Aulacomnium palustre f. tenue (Głow.) Podp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre subsp. fasciculare (Funck ex Brid.) Kindb.
  • Aulacomnium palustre subsp. imbricatum (Bruch & Schimp.) Kindb.
  • Aulacomnium palustre subsp. papillosum (Müll.Hal.) Kindb.
  • Aulacomnium palustre subsp. polycephalum (Brid.) Kindb.
  • Aulacomnium palustre var. acuminatum Venturi
  • Aulacomnium palustre var. adpressum Jaap
  • Aulacomnium palustre var. alpestre Schimp.
  • Aulacomnium palustre var. andinum (Herzog) Wijk & Margad.

and 69 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.