{
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  "url": "https://botanai.app/plants/polytrichum-commune/",
  "last_modified": "2026-06-03",
  "id": {
    "slug": "polytrichum-commune",
    "wfo": "wfo-0001160523",
    "inat_taxon_id": 68293
  },
  "name": {
    "scientific": "Polytrichum commune",
    "authorship": "Hedw.",
    "genus": "Polytrichum",
    "epithet": "commune",
    "family": "Polytrichaceae",
    "rank": "species",
    "taxonomic_status": "accepted",
    "accepted_according_to": "World Flora Online Plant List, 2026-06",
    "is_homonym": false,
    "published_in": "Sp. Musc. Frond.: 88. 1801.",
    "protologue_url": "https://www.bryonames.org/",
    "common": {
      "preferred": "polytrichum moss",
      "english": [
        "polytrichum moss"
      ],
      "source": "wikidata"
    },
    "synonyms": [
      {
        "name": "Pogonatum madagassum",
        "authorship": "(Hampe) A.Jaeger"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum alpinum var. propinquum",
        "authorship": "(R.Br.) I.Hagen"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum assimile",
        "authorship": "Hampe"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum autranii",
        "authorship": "Renauld & Cardot"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum brachypelma",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum buchananii",
        "authorship": "Broth."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum cataractarum",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. chalubinskii",
        "authorship": "(Żmuda) Podp."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. falcifolium",
        "authorship": "Warnst."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. fastigiatum",
        "authorship": "(Wilson) H.A.Möller"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. nigrescens",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) Podp."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. nigrescens",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) Albr.Rohn."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. uliginosum",
        "authorship": "(Wallr.) Mönk."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune f. washingtonianum",
        "authorship": "Grout"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune subsp. cubicum",
        "authorship": "Lindb."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune subsp. yuccifolium",
        "authorship": "(Ehrh. ex Funck) Giacom."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. alatauense",
        "authorship": "Paris"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. brevifolium",
        "authorship": "C.E.O.Jensen"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. brevifolium",
        "authorship": "Geh."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. brevirostre",
        "authorship": "Papp"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. canadense",
        "authorship": "Kindb."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. chalubinskii",
        "authorship": "Żmuda"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. commune",
        "authorship": null
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. cubicum",
        "authorship": "(Lindb.) I.Hagen"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. deflexifolium",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) Podp."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. ehrenbergii",
        "authorship": "Lorentz"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. fastigiatum",
        "authorship": "Wilson"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. minus",
        "authorship": "De Not."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. minus",
        "authorship": "Brid."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. montanum",
        "authorship": "Wallr."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. nigrescens",
        "authorship": "Warnst."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. pygmaeum",
        "authorship": "Lindb."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. roemeri",
        "authorship": "Warnst."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. scopularium",
        "authorship": "Bréb."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. turfosum",
        "authorship": "Velen."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. uliginosum",
        "authorship": "Wallr."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum commune var. yuccifolium",
        "authorship": "(Ehrh. ex Funck) Hook. & Taylor"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum cubicum",
        "authorship": "(Lindb.) Péterfi"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum deflexifolium",
        "authorship": "Warnst."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum elatum",
        "authorship": "P.Beauv."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum flexicaule",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum flexicaule var. atrichoides",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum flexicaule var. flaccidogracile",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum glabrum",
        "authorship": "Brid. ex Schrad."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum juccifolium",
        "authorship": "Ehrh. ex F.Weber & D.Mohr"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum leonii",
        "authorship": "Papp"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum madagassum",
        "authorship": "Hampe"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum mildbraedii",
        "authorship": "Broth."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum nigrescens",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) Mikut."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum paludicola",
        "authorship": "Cardot"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum paludicola",
        "authorship": "Broth."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum perigoniale var. nigrescens",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) Warnst."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum propinquum",
        "authorship": "R.Br."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum purpurascens",
        "authorship": "Brid."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum quadrangulare",
        "authorship": "Gilib."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum radulifolium",
        "authorship": "Müll.Hal."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum remotifolium",
        "authorship": "P.Beauv."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum subcarinatum",
        "authorship": "Hampe"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum subformosum var. anomalum",
        "authorship": "Thér."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum subformosum var. yunnanense",
        "authorship": "Thér. & Copp."
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum subgracile",
        "authorship": "Hampe"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum subremotifolium",
        "authorship": "Geh. & Hampe"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum swartzii var. nigrescens",
        "authorship": "(Warnst.) I.Hagen"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum uliginosum",
        "authorship": "(Wallr.) Schriebl"
      },
      {
        "name": "Polytrichum yuccifolium",
        "authorship": "Ehrh. ex Funck"
      }
    ],
    "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytrichum_commune"
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  "phenology": null,
  "traits": {
    "lifeform": null,
    "climate": null
  },
  "climate_envelope": {
    "mean_annual_temp_c": {
      "p5": 1.8,
      "median": 7,
      "p95": 14.9
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      "median": 779.1,
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      "p95": 3.4
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    "annual_precip_mm": {
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      "median": 995.5,
      "p95": 2336.1
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      "p5": 11,
      "median": 27.3,
      "p95": 51.7
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      "p5": 87.5,
      "median": 170.2,
      "p95": 355.2
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    "units": {
      "mean_annual_temp_c": "degrees Celsius",
      "min_temp_coldest_month_c": "degrees Celsius (mean daily MINIMUM of the coldest month)",
      "max_temp_warmest_month_c": "degrees Celsius (mean daily MAXIMUM of the warmest month)",
      "annual_precip_mm": "millimetres per year",
      "precip_driest_quarter_mm": "millimetres in the driest quarter"
    },
    "source": "CHELSA V2.1 climatologies 1981-2010, 30 arcsec",
    "citation": "Karger, D.N. et al. (2017) Climatologies at high resolution for the earth's land surface areas. Scientific Data 4, 170122.",
    "occurrences": "iNaturalist Research-grade Observations",
    "occurrences_doi": null,
    "method": "Climate sampled at every georeferenced research-grade observation of the species. Reported as the 5th to 95th percentile across 1962 of them. Species with fewer than 30 georeferenced observations get no envelope.",
    "is_hardiness_zone": false,
    "hardiness_zone_note": "min_temp_coldest_month_c is NOT a USDA hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual EXTREME minimum temperature; this is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is typically about 16 C warmer. Do not present one as the other."
  },
  "identification": {
    "on_device_model": {
      "model": "Google AIY plants V1 (TFLite, 2,102 classes)",
      "identifies_this_species": false
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    "in_accuracy_benchmark": false,
    "benchmark_url": "https://botanai.app/accuracy/",
    "confused_with": []
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  "sources": [
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      "name": "World Flora Online Plant List",
      "note": "accepted name, authority, classification",
      "license": "CC0",
      "url": "https://www.worldfloraonline.org/",
      "retrieved": "2026-07-12"
    },
    {
      "name": "iNaturalist",
      "note": "photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only",
      "license": "per photograph",
      "url": "https://www.inaturalist.org/",
      "retrieved": "2026-06-27"
    },
    {
      "name": "Wikidata",
      "note": "common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715)",
      "license": "CC0",
      "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/",
      "retrieved": "2026-07-13"
    }
  ],
  "gaps": [
    {
      "field": "care",
      "status": "not_published",
      "reason": "Not published anywhere on this site. Every care claim we could make cheaply would be an unsourced enum, which is what the previous version of this site did and why it was deleted."
    },
    {
      "field": "toxicity",
      "status": "not_published",
      "reason": "Not published. The widely copied list is a copyrighted compilation restricted to noncommercial use, and we will not scrape it. A sourced toxicity dataset is being built from primary literature and is not ready."
    },
    {
      "field": "botanical_review",
      "status": "not_sourced",
      "reason": "No page on this site has been reviewed by a named botanist. The determination label says so, on every page."
    },
    {
      "field": "native_range",
      "status": "not_sourced",
      "reason": "Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants does not cover this taxon."
    },
    {
      "field": "hardiness_zone",
      "status": "not_published",
      "reason": "Not published for any species. A USDA hardiness zone is the average annual EXTREME minimum temperature, and we hold the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and typically about 16 C warmer. Presenting one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a zone at all."
    },
    {
      "field": "phenology",
      "status": "not_sourced",
      "reason": "No dated flowering annotations found for this taxon."
    }
  ],
  "license": {
    "data": "CC BY 4.0",
    "attribution": "BotanAI, https://botanai.app/plants/polytrichum-commune/",
    "note": "This document is licensed CC BY 4.0. The PHOTOGRAPHS it links are licensed individually and separately: each carries its own license and license_url, and those terms govern. Underlying taxonomy is CC0 (World Flora Online); native range is CC BY 3.0 (Kew)."
  }
}