Plagiothecium undulatum (Hedw.) Schimp.

Alegro, Antun, Dragićević, Snežana, Šegota, Vedran & Ćetković, Ilinka, 2019, Stepping beyond the 700 milestone: four new moss species in the bryophyte flora of Montenegro, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (9), pp. 97-103 : 100

Plagiothecium undulatum (Hedw.) Schimp.

SPECIMEN EXAMINED. — Montenegro. Western slopes of Hajla Mt, on the way to the mountain cabin Grope, 42°45’43”N, 20°09’37”E, 1752 m a.s.l., 8.IX.2017, leg. and det. A. Alegro & S. Dragićević s.n., Natural History Museum of Montenegro herbarium no. 1657/135.

REMARKS

The species was recorded within the high mountain spruce forest, which encompasses a large, transitional peat bog area, exceptionally rich in diverse Sphagnum species. This locality is situated outside the Mediterranean part of Montenegro. The moss formed small patches in close vicinity of the forest brook, overgrowing thick deposits of partially decomposed acidic litter originating from spruce needles. The species grew together with Rhizomnium punctatum (Hedw.) T. J.Kop. and Rhodobryum roseum (Hedw.) Limpr. According to Dierssen (2001) it is a true acidophyt, which in Europe usually forms patches in acid woodlands including coniferous plantations, in heathlands, leached acid grasslands, etc. Plagiothecium undulatum is a Suboceanic Boreo-temperate element ( Hill & Preston 1998; Smith 2004), beside Europe present also in Asia ( China, Middle East and Siberia), Pacific Islands (New Guinea) and N America ( Smith 2004; Ireland 2014). It grows in majority of N, W and central European countries ( Ireland 2014; Hodgetts 2015). In SE Europe is rather under recorded than rare, known only from Bosnia & Herzegovina ( Pavletić 1955), Bulgaria ( Natcheva et al. 2006), Croatia ( Pavletić 1955; Papp et al. 2013b), Romania ( Stefănuţ & Goia 2012), Serbia ( Sabovljević & Natcheva 2006) and Slovenia (Martinčič 2003). It is also present in other Mediterranean countries and islands ( France, Italy, Portugal, Sicily, Spain and Turkey) ( Ros et al. 2013; Hodgetts 2015). In SE Europe the species has been assessed as endangered only in Bulgaria with the category of vulnerable ( Natcheva et al. 2006). In the case of our population, we found no direct threats due to the absence of human impact in these, almost primeval, high mountain spruce forests.