Cedar Glade notes #3 with photos from Dan Pittillo

Sullivant's or Shaggy Maned-moss (Macrocoma sulivantii) NC state listed as Significantly Rare-Disjunct. In the state it occurs in 8 mountain states. It is a bright green, cylindrical moss with the sporophytes fitted with golden shaggy hairs, giving it a maned appearance. 

The late Dr. Lewis Anderson, internationally known Duke bryologist and Howard Crum, authors of the two-volume Mosses of Eastern North America, climbed with me one dry day to the top of Cedar Cliff in Jackson County and pointed out the rare Macrocoma sulvantii growing on limbs of old red cedar trees. As usual he collected a few samples for his frequent exicotti (exchange specimens) he shared with the bryologist community far and wide. He suggested we might find it on old cedar trees and that has been the case but I've not yet seen it in any additional counties listed by the Natural Heritage Program.

The attached macro digital photos illustrate the structure of a pressed specimen (no. 1) and pointing to the sporophyte with a dissecting needle (no. 2).

#1

#2