Brachythecium albicans(Hedw.) Schimp.

brachythecium moss

WFO wfo-0001154980 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. a Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 194726522
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas
fig. b Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194727514
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Susan Marley
fig. c Susan Marley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184225352
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Collège Berthelot
fig. d Collège Berthelot, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186411919
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. e Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 178763292
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. f Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 178045665
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. g Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177585054
Brachythecium albicans, photographed by Susan Marley
fig. h Susan Marley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 177466782

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 827 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -8.0 °C -1.8 °C 3.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.0 °C 22.8 °C 25.7 °C
Annual rainfall 541 mm 697 mm 1,466 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 89 mm 126 mm 227 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 827 research-grade observations of Brachythecium albicans 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 39 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.

  • Brachythecium albicans f. filiforme (T.Jensen) C.E.O.Jensen
  • Brachythecium albicans f. flaccidum (Loeske) Podp.
  • Brachythecium albicans f. flavescens C.E.O.Jensen
  • Brachythecium albicans f. longedecurrens Latzel
  • Brachythecium albicans f. pinnatifidum (Warnst.) Podp.
  • Brachythecium albicans f. rugulosum (Warnst.) Mönk.
  • Brachythecium albicans f. tenellum (Warnst. ex G.Roth) Podp.
  • Brachythecium albicans subsp. dumetorum (Limpr.) J.J.Amann
  • Brachythecium albicans var. albicans
  • Brachythecium albicans var. dumetorum Limpr.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. filiforme (T.Jensen) Paris
  • Brachythecium albicans var. flaccidum Loeske
  • Brachythecium albicans var. flavescens (Roth ex Schultz) Brockm.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. julaceum Warnst.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. macrius H.Klinggr.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. macrophyllum Żmuda
  • Brachythecium albicans var. occidentale Renauld & Cardot
  • Brachythecium albicans var. pinnatifidum Warnst.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. rugulosum Warnst.
  • Brachythecium albicans var. tenellum Warnst. ex G.Roth
  • Brachythecium beringianum Cardot & Thér.
  • Brachythecium dumetorum (Limpr.) G.Roth
  • Brachythecium glareosum f. americanum Grout
  • Brachythecium morenoi Müll.Hal.

and 15 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.