Niphotrichum canescens(Hedw.) Bedn.-Ochyra & Ochyra

racomitrium moss

WFO wfo-0001212316 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by carnifex
fig. a carnifex, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-01 / obs. 194002733
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. b Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 170904586
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. c Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126928601
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. d Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110934317
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. e Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110933200
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. f Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 103623124
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Katrin Simon
fig. g Katrin Simon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 103343008
Niphotrichum canescens, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. h Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 102853969

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 365 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -16.9 °C -5.5 °C 2.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 15.4 °C 22.0 °C 24.9 °C
Annual rainfall 583 mm 909 mm 2,041 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 93 mm 160 mm 358 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 365 research-grade observations of Niphotrichum canescens 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 31 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.

  • Bryum canescens (Hedw.) Hoffm. ex With.
  • Grimmia canescens (Hedw.) Müll.Hal.
  • Grimmia canescens var. stricta (Schlieph.) R.S.Williams
  • Grimmia ericoides var. canescens (Hedw.) Lindb.
  • Grimmia ericoides var. prolixa (Bruch & Schimp.) Hesselbo
  • Grimmia ericoides var. stricta (Schlieph.) H.A.Möller
  • Racomitrium canescens (Hedw.) Brid.
  • Racomitrium canescens f. canescens
  • Racomitrium canescens f. latifolium Vilh.
  • Racomitrium canescens f. pilosum Loeske
  • Racomitrium canescens f. prolixum (Bruch & Schimp.) Chał.
  • Racomitrium canescens f. vulgare Chał.
  • Racomitrium canescens subsp. canescens
  • Racomitrium canescens subsp. latifolium (C.E.O.Jensen) Frisvoll
  • Racomitrium canescens subsp. mollissimum (H.Philib.) J.J.Amann
  • Racomitrium canescens var. aquaticum Matousch.
  • Racomitrium canescens var. arenicola Torka
  • Racomitrium canescens var. canescens
  • Racomitrium canescens var. dolomiticum Kern
  • Racomitrium canescens var. glaciale J.J.Amann
  • Racomitrium canescens var. latifolium C.E.O.Jensen
  • Racomitrium canescens var. longipilum Warnst.
  • Racomitrium canescens var. muticum Pilous
  • Racomitrium canescens var. prolixum Bruch & Schimp.

and 7 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. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol RACA11. public domain. 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.