Ptilium crista-castrensis(Hedw.) De Not.

knights plume moss

WFO wfo-0001171705 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Pierre Cartier
fig. a Pierre Cartier, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-09 / obs. 204763641
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Shane Johnson
fig. b Shane Johnson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204764818
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Tatiana Strus
fig. c Tatiana Strus, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202883766
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Steven Lamonde
fig. d Steven Lamonde, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205750772
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Shane Johnson
fig. e Shane Johnson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204473557
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by JSReiff
fig. f JSReiff, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201569308
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Pierre Cartier
fig. g Pierre Cartier, CC0 1.0 / obs. 197556758
Ptilium crista-castrensis, photographed by Pierre Cartier
fig. h Pierre Cartier, CC0 1.0 / obs. 197363614

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.

Also published as 13 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.

  • Ctenium crista-castrensis (Hedw.) C.E.O.Jensen
  • Hypnum crista-castrensis Hedw.
  • Hypnum crista-castrensis var. adpressum Jaap
  • Hypnum crista-castrensis var. elongatum Chevall.
  • Hypnum crista-castrensis var. gracilescens Jaap
  • Hypnum crista-castrensis var. pseudomolluscum Heugel
  • Hypnum cristiforme Gray
  • Hypnum hedwigii DC.
  • Hypnum scalare Zenker & D.Dietr.
  • Ptilium crista-castrensis f. adpressum Holler ex Warnst.
  • Ptilium crista-castrensis f. gracilescens (Jaap) Podp.
  • Ptilium crista-castrensis var. pseudomolluscum (Heugel) Mikut.
  • Stereodon crista-castrensis (Hedw.) Mitt.

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. 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.