Plate 1 figs. a–h · 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 35 observations
| Condition | 5th percentile | Median | 95th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coldest month, mean daily low | -13.3 °C | -4.4 °C | 0.6 °C |
| Warmest month, mean daily high | 16.3 °C | 21.9 °C | 25.8 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 677 mm | 890 mm | 2,698 mm |
| Rainfall in the driest quarter | 108 mm | 173 mm | 354 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 35 research-grade observations of Polytrichum longisetum 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 Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.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 44 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.
- Atrichum anomalum Milde
- Catharinea dixonii Braithw.
- Catharinea spinosa Warnst.
- Catharinella dixonii (Braithw.) Kindb.
- Oligotrichum sibiricum Bard.
- Pogonatum urnigerum var. nigrescens (DC.) Brid.
- Polytrichastrum longisetum (Sw. ex Brid.) G.L.Sm.
- Polytrichastrum longisetum f. anomalum (Milde) Schljakov
- Polytrichastrum longisetum var. anomalum (Milde) Ignatov & G.L.Merr.
- Polytrichum anomalum (Milde) Milde
- Polytrichum attenuatum var. aurantiacum (Hoppe ex Brid.) Turner
- Polytrichum aurantiacum Hoppe ex Brid.
- Polytrichum commune var. aurantiacum (Hoppe ex Brid.) Wahlenb.
- Polytrichum formosum var. aurantiacum (Hoppe ex Brid.) Hartm.
- Polytrichum formosum var. gracile (Menzies) Venturi & Bott.
- Polytrichum gracile Menzies
- Polytrichum gracile f. alpestre Podp.
- Polytrichum gracile f. anomalum (Milde) Osada
- Polytrichum gracile f. aquaticum (Bryhn) Mönk.
- Polytrichum gracile f. atromitrium (Meyl.) Podp.
- Polytrichum gracile f. brevisetum Warnst.
- Polytrichum gracile f. fasciculatum (Warnst.) Podp.
- Polytrichum gracile f. juvenile Podp.
- Polytrichum gracile f. majus Katić
and 20 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.