Polytrichum formosumHedw.

polytrichum moss

WFO wfo-0001170068 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Andreas Stiller
fig. a Andreas Stiller, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205448199
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Paul Braun
fig. b Paul Braun, CC0 1.0 / obs. 205397724
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Mattia Menchetti
fig. c Mattia Menchetti, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204997161
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Anne Thomson
fig. d Anne Thomson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204065076
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by George Greiff
fig. e George Greiff, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203471496
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Niki Hubbard
fig. f Niki Hubbard, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202663868
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Andreas Stiller
fig. g Andreas Stiller, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201251958
Polytrichum formosum, photographed by Braden J. Judson
fig. h Braden J. Judson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 198921967

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 1,954 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -7.2 °C -2.0 °C 2.8 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.0 °C 22.0 °C 25.1 °C
Annual rainfall 589 mm 849 mm 1,604 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 97 mm 159 mm 286 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 1,954 research-grade observations of Polytrichum formosum 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 30 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.

  • Pogonatum formosum (Hedw.) P.Beauv.
  • Polytrichastrum formosum (Hedw.) G.L.Sm.
  • Polytrichastrum formosum var. formosum
  • Polytrichastrum formosum var. intersedens (Cardot) Z.Iwats. & Nog.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum Menzies ex Brid.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum f. conicum Loeske
  • Polytrichum attenuatum f. pumilum Warnst.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum f. subcrenulatum Latzel
  • Polytrichum attenuatum var. brachycarpum Lindb.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum var. brachycaule H.A.Möller
  • Polytrichum attenuatum var. caucasicum Warnst.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum var. longifolium Warnst.
  • Polytrichum attenuatum var. superbum (Schultz) Lindb.
  • Polytrichum brachycaule (H.A.Möller) C.E.O.Jensen
  • Polytrichum commune var. attenuatum (Menzies ex Brid.) Hook. & Taylor
  • Polytrichum conorhynchum Kindb.
  • Polytrichum coronatum Brid.
  • Polytrichum dasyphyllum Müll.Hal.
  • Polytrichum formosum var. brachycaule (H.A.Möller) Podp.
  • Polytrichum formosum var. brevisetum Cardot
  • Polytrichum formosum var. caucasicum (Warnst.) Podp.
  • Polytrichum formosum var. fasciculare Prag.
  • Polytrichum formosum var. formosum
  • Polytrichum formosum var. intersedens (Cardot) Osada & Yano

and 6 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 POFO6. 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.