Species finder

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Welcome to the Species Finder

The new Species Finder is your gateway to a wealth of information about the mosses, liverworts and hornworts to be found in the UK. Ultimately, we hope to include a page dedicated to each species, with identification tips, up-to-date distribution information, links to useful resources and an image gallery showing a range of images including habitat photos, close-ups and microscope images.

These pages will gradually be built up over time, and we need your help to ensure the information they contain is useful, accurate and interesting. So please, if you have any identification tips, images that show typical features of a species (or just show how beautiful they are!), or comments and feedback on existing pages, let us know by emailing webmaster@britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk.

If you would like to volunteer to contribute some missing species in their entirety, please also contact us at the above email address. The more species we cover, the more useful this resource will become.

Thank you!

Filter our alphabetical list to locate a species

Click on one of the category boxes below to select Hornworts, Liverworts or Mosses. Then expand the relevant letter to find the species you’re looking for.

Click on the * category to view Species pages that are considered ‘complete’ i.e. they have additional notes if relevant and sufficient images to be useful. Note that other pages may have some images, but we know they need more work.

These pages use Latin names as that is what most bryologists use all the time. Common names for bryophytes do exist, but are often confusingly similar and frequently not very intuitive. Taxonomists are constantly discovering new facts about species which mean that they get moved into a different genus, or split into 2 species, or other changes. See below for more on this subject.

Note for beginners and users of the BBS Field Guide

The UK checklist of bryophyte names has recently undergone significant change (as of January 2021). For the time being we will retain both the old and new names in the species list, although both will link to the same species page which will use the new names. Therefore, if you select a species name from the Field Guide such as Orthotrichum lyellii, and end up on a page called Pulvigera lyellii, this isn’t a mistake! To make this more obvious, old names will be ‘greyed out’ in the species list.

A

Adelanthus decipiens >

Anastrepta orcadensis >

Anastrophyllum alpinum >

Anastrophyllum donnianum >

Anastrophyllum hellerianum >

Anastrophyllum joergensenii >

Anastrophyllum minutum >

Aneura mirabilis >

Aneura pinguis >

Anthelia julacea >

Anthelia juratzkana >

Aphanolejeunea microscopica >

Apometzgeria pubescens >

Athalamia hyalina >

B

Barbilophozia atlantica >

Barbilophozia attenuata >

Barbilophozia barbata >

Barbilophozia floerkei >

Barbilophozia hatcheri >

Barbilophozia kunzeana >

Barbilophozia sudetica   >

Bazzania pearsonii >

Bazzania tricrenata >

Bazzania trilobata >

Biantheridion undulifolium >

Blasia pusilla >

Blepharostoma trichophyllum >

C

Calypogeia arguta >

Calypogeia azurea >

Calypogeia fissa >

Calypogeia integristipula >

Calypogeia muelleriana >

Calypogeia neesiana >

Calypogeia sphagnicola >

Calypogeia suecica >

Cephalozia albescens >

Cephalozia bicuspidata >

Cephalozia connivens >

Cephalozia crassifolia >

Cephalozia curvifolia >

Cephalozia lunulifolia >

Cephalozia pleniceps >

Cephaloziella baumgartneri >

Cephaloziella calyculata >

Cephaloziella divaricata >

Cephaloziella elachista >

Cephaloziella hampeana >

Cephaloziella nicholsonii >

Cephaloziella rubella >

Cephaloziella spinigera >

Cephaloziella stellulifera >

Cephaloziella turneri >

Chiloscyphus pallescens >

Chiloscyphus polyanthos >

Cladopodiella fluitans >

Cladopodiella francisci >

Clevea hyalina >

Cololejeunea calcarea >

Cololejeunea microscopica >

Cololejeunea minutissima >

Cololejeunea rossettiana >

Colura calyptrifolia >

Conocephalum conicum >

Conocephalum salebrosum >

Cryptothallus mirabilis >

D

Diplophyllum albicans >

Diplophyllum obtusifolium >

Douinia ovata >

Drepanolejeunea hamatifolia >

Dumortiera hirsuta >

E

Eremonotus myriocarpus >

F

Fossombronia angulosa >

Fossombronia caespitiformis >

Fossombronia fimbriata >

Fossombronia foveolata >

Fossombronia husnotii >

Fossombronia incurva >

Fossombronia pusilla >

Fossombronia wondraczekii >

Frullania dilatata >

Frullania fragilifolia >

Frullania microphylla >

Frullania tamarisci >

Frullania teneriffae >

G

Geocalyx graveolens >

Gymnocolea inflata >

Gymnomitrion adustum >

Gymnomitrion alpinum >

Gymnomitrion brevissimum >

Gymnomitrion concinnatum >

Gymnomitrion crenulatum >

Gymnomitrion obtusum >

H

Haplomitrium hookeri >

Harpalejeunea molleri >

Harpanthus scutatus >

Herbertus aduncus >

Herbertus borealis >

Herbertus hutchinsiae >

Herbertus stramineus >

Hygrobiella laxifolia >

I

Isopaches bicrenatus >

J

Jamesoniella autumnalis >

Jamesoniella undulifolia >

Jubula hutchinsiae >

Jungermannia atrovirens >

Jungermannia eucordifolia >

Jungermannia exsertifolia subsp. cordifolia >

Jungermannia gracillima >

Jungermannia hyalina >

Jungermannia obovata >

Jungermannia paroica >

Jungermannia pumila >

Jungermannia sphaerocarpa >

K

Kurzia pauciflora >

Kurzia sylvatica >

Kurzia trichoclados >

L

Leiocolea alpestris >

Leiocolea badensis >

Leiocolea bantriensis >

Leiocolea heterocolpos >

Leiocolea rutheana >

Leiocolea turbinata >

Lejeunea cavifolia >

Lejeunea flava >

Lejeunea hibernica >

Lejeunea lamacerina >

Lejeunea patens >

Lepidozia cupressina >

Lepidozia pearsonii >

Lepidozia reptans >

Leptoscyphus cuneifolius >

Lophocolea bidentata >

Lophocolea bispinosa >

Lophocolea fragrans >

Lophocolea heterophylla >

Lophocolea semiteres >

Lophozia bicrenata >

Lophozia excisa >

Lophozia incisa >

Lophozia longidens >

Lophozia opacifolia >

Lophozia perssonii >

Lophozia sudetica >

Lophozia ventricosa >

Lophozia wenzelii >

Lunularia cruciata >

M

Marchantia polymorpha >

Marchantia quadrata >

Marchesinia mackaii >

Marsupella adusta >

Marsupella alpina >

Marsupella aquatica >

Marsupella brevissima >

Marsupella emarginata >

Marsupella funckii >

Marsupella sphacelata >

Marsupella sprucei >

Marsupella stableri >

Mastigophora woodsii >

Mesoptychia badensis >

Mesoptychia bantriensis >

Mesoptychia collaris >

Mesoptychia heterocolpos >

Mesoptychia rutheana >

Mesoptychia turbinata >

Metzgeria conjugata >

Metzgeria consanguinea >

Metzgeria fruticulosa >

Metzgeria furcata >

Metzgeria leptoneura >

Metzgeria pubescens >

Metzgeria temperata >

Metzgeria violacea >

Microlejeunea ulicina >

Moerckia flotoviana >

Moerckia hibernica >

Mylia anomala >

Mylia taylorii >

Myriocoleopsis minutissima >

N

Nardia breidleri >

Nardia compressa >

Nardia geoscyphus >

Nardia scalaris >

Nowellia curvifolia >

O

Odontoschisma denudatum >

Odontoschisma elongatum >

Odontoschisma fluitans >

Odontoschisma francisci >

Odontoschisma sphagni >

Oleolophozia perssonii >

Orthocaulis atlanticus >

Orthocaulis attenuatus >

Orthocaulis floerkei >

P

Pallavicinia lyellii >

Pedinophyllum interruptum >

Pellia endiviifolia >

Pellia epiphylla >

Pellia neesiana >

Petalophyllum ralfsii >

Plagiochila asplenioides >

Plagiochila atlantica >

Plagiochila bifaria >

Plagiochila britannica >

Plagiochila carringtonii >

Plagiochila exigua >

Plagiochila heterophylla >

Plagiochila killarniensis >

Plagiochila porelloides >

Plagiochila punctata >

Plagiochila spinulosa >

Pleurocladula albescens >

Pleurozia purpurea >

Porella arboris-vitae >

Porella cordaeana >

Porella obtusata >

Porella pinnata >

Porella platyphylla >

Preissia quadrata >

Pseudomarsupidium decipiens >

Ptilidium ciliare >

Ptilidium pulcherrimum >

R

Radula aquilegia >

Radula carringtonii >

Radula complanata >

Radula holtii >

Radula lindenbergiana >

Radula voluta >

Reboulia hemisphaerica >

Riccardia chamedryfolia >

Riccardia latifrons >

Riccardia multifida >

Riccardia palmata >

Riccia beyrichiana >

Riccia canaliculata >

Riccia cavernosa >

Riccia crystallina >

Riccia fluitans >

Riccia glauca >

Riccia huebeneriana >

Riccia nigrella >

Riccia sorocarpa >

Riccia subbifurca >

Ricciocarpos natans >

S

Saccobasis polita >

Saccogyna viticulosa >

Scapania aequiloba >

Scapania aspera >

Scapania compacta >

Scapania cuspiduligera >

Scapania degenii >

Scapania gracilis >

Scapania irrigua >

Scapania nemorea >

Scapania nimbosa >

Scapania ornithopoides >

Scapania scandica >

Scapania subalpina >

Scapania uliginosa >

Scapania umbrosa >

Scapania undulata >

Schistochilopsis incisa >

Schistochilopsis opacifolia >

Solenostoma gracillimum >

Solenostoma hyalinum >

Solenostoma obovatum >

Solenostoma paroicum >

Solenostoma sphaerocarpum >

Southbya tophacea >

Sphaerocarpos europaeus >

Sphaerocarpos michelii >

Sphaerocarpos texanus >

Sphenolobopsis pearsonii >

Sphenolobus minutus >

Syzygiella autumnalis >

T

Targionia hypophylla >

Telaranea europaea >

Telaranea longii >

Telaranea murphyae >

Telaranea nematodes >

Tetralophozia setiformis >

Trichocolea tomentella >

Tricholepidozia tetradactyla >

Tritomaria exsecta >

Tritomaria exsectiformis >

Tritomaria polita >

Tritomaria quinquedentata >