Plate 1 figs. a–c · 2 observations
This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.
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 79 observations
| Condition | 5th percentile | Median | 95th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coldest month, mean daily low | -10.6 °C | -5.4 °C | -2.0 °C |
| Warmest month, mean daily high | 18.6 °C | 22.3 °C | 26.1 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 574 mm | 917 mm | 2,184 mm |
| Rainfall in the driest quarter | 95 mm | 143 mm | 391 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 79 research-grade observations of Orthotrichum pallens 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 34 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.
- Dorcadion pallens (Bruch ex Brid.) Lindb.
- Dorcadion pallens var. scopulorum (Lindb.) Lindb.
- Dorcadion pallidum Lindb. & Arnell
- Orthotrichum arnellii Grönvall
- Orthotrichum arnellii var. aurantiacum (Grönvall) Medelius
- Orthotrichum arnellii var. boreale (Grönvall) Medelius
- Orthotrichum arnellii var. scopulorum (Lindb.) W.Krieg.
- Orthotrichum aurantiacum Grönvall
- Orthotrichum boreale Grönvall
- Orthotrichum gevaliense Grönvall
- Orthotrichum immersum Brid.
- Orthotrichum latifolium Grönvall
- Orthotrichum pallens subsp. arnellii (Grönvall) J.J.Amann
- Orthotrichum pallens subsp. pallidum (Lindb. & Arnell) Giacom.
- Orthotrichum pallens subsp. paradoxum (Grönvall) J.J.Amann
- Orthotrichum pallens subsp. scopulorum (Lindb.) Kindb.
- Orthotrichum pallens var. brotheri Grönvall
- Orthotrichum pallens var. commune Venturi
- Orthotrichum pallens var. crispatulum Venturi
- Orthotrichum pallens var. crispulum Venturi
- Orthotrichum pallens var. cuspidatum Grönvall
- Orthotrichum pallens var. immersum (Brid.) Müll.Hal.
- Orthotrichum pallens var. latifolium (Grönvall) J.J.Amann
- Orthotrichum pallens var. leucomitrioides (Limpr.) J.J.Amann
and 10 more.
Sourcesevery claim on this page
- World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- 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.