Buxbaumia viridis leaflet - Plantlife

Buxbaumia viridis - Status and world distributionIn the United Kingdom, Buxbaumia viridis is rated as Endangered in thebryophyte Red Data Book (Church et al., 2001), has a Biodiversity Action Planand is listed on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. TheEndangered threat category means that the plant is deemed to be at a very highrisk of extinction in the wild because of its small range and patchy distribution andthe small number of plants in total.Buxbaumia viridis has a scattered distribution in montane and boreal habitatsacross the northern hemisphere from south-west Asia and China to westernNorth America. It is a species of conservation concern in North America but itsstatus in Asia is not known. It is sparsely distributed across Europe and appearson the Red List of most countries where it occurs. The European Committee forthe Conservation of Bryophytes rates Buxbaumia viridis as Vulnerable in Europeand it is listed in Annex II of the EC Habitats and Species Directive and onAppendix 1 of the Council of Europe Bern Convention.Its status on European Annex II theoretically means that Buxbaumia viridis is a“plant species of Community interest whose conservation requires thedesignation of Special Areas of Conservation”. Its listing on Schedule 8 meansthat “it is an offence (subject to exceptions) to pick, uproot, trade in, or possess(for the purposes of trade) Buxbaumia viridis without a licence.” So, please donot collect Buxbaumia viridis. If you want verification a digital photo is usuallyideal.History of recording and current UK distributionAll the UK records for Buxbaumia viridis are in the north and east of Scotland,extending from East Ross in the north and, historically, to Arbroath in Angus inthe south. There are two concentrations of recent records, one in the glens westof Inverness and the other on Speyside. It seems likely that some other sitesfurther west will be found but Buxbaumia viridis is a boreal-montane species,presumably not suited to the wetter, milder west. It has never been seen insouthern Britain and all of the more southerly sites in Europe are associated withthe mountains.Buxbaumia viridis was first recognised in the UK (as B. indusiata) fromBalnagowan near Tain in East Rossshire in March 1867 from a collection by MrsClarke. However, the announcement of this discovery prompted Prof. G Dickie tore-examine plants in his herbarium, sent to him by Mr A Cruickshank (asBuxbaumia aphylla), collected from “a dense fir wood at Pannanich, nearBallater” in July 1847 (Dickie, 1867a). These also proved to be Buxbaumiaviridis. Presumably inspired by this, Dickie revisited Deeside accompanied byJohn Roy and found Buxbaumia viridis on Craigendinnie Hill above Aboyne inJune 1867 (Dickie, 1867b) and collected it here again in both 1869 and 1870.There are also two enigmatic literature records from this period, one from a “Ben