Mosses of Iowa

Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts have not been studied as much as vascular plants. However, there is some information available and some interest in the group in Iowa.

This group of non-vascular plants is collectively known as byrophytes.

H. S. Conard published a list which included 358 species. The reference is: Conard, H. S., 1956. “Mosses and liverworts of Iowa”. Proc. Iowa Acad. Sci. 63: 345-354. That reference did give ranges verbally but did not have range maps.

Mr. Conard also published a field guide, How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts. The second edition of the book, revised by Paul L. Redfern, Jr. may be currently available. It is published by WCB/McGraw Hill, copyright 1979.

In 1978, James H. Peck wrote a paper which updated Dr. Conard's nomenclature and which had range maps rather than the verbal descriptions of the ranges.

The top photo is of a plant that is called a hornwort. Hornworts are considered more primitive than the liverworts and mosses, and more similar to the green algae. They are not really well studied. It is known that some of them have a symbiotic relationship with blue-green algae, apparently similar to the fungi-algae relationship that is a lichen. This hornwort is Phaeoceros laevis. It grows on moist sandstone/limestone walls. This photograph was taken in Cedar Bluffs State Preserve in Mahaska County. It is known from a few other counties in Iowa, mostly in central Iowa.

The bottom photo is a true moss, Climacium dendroides. It is found on north-facing slopes in a few places in Iowa, including Cedar Bluffs State Preserve, where this photo was taken as well.