The Mosses of Payne County, Oklahoma

Abstract

Little information is available on the mosses of Oklahoma as only 160 species have been recorded and these have come from 22 of the 77 counties. Most reports are from eastern and southern areas while the north-central and western counties are very poorly known. Payne County, in north-central Oklahoma, is represented by only one citation, that of Barbula cruegeri, a new record for the state (Bird, Proc. Okla. Acad. Sci., in press). It is the purpose of this paper to present the results of extensive collections in the county by Dr. G. J. Ikenberry and by two of his students, Dr. C. D. Bird and Mr. W. F. Mahler. The information should be especially timely as Payne County is the site of this summer's AIBS meetings. Payne County covers an area of 697 square miles. Rainfall varies from 30-35 inches with the greatest amounts from April to September. Soils are coarsely textured, sandy, and have a low water-holding capacity. Rolling redbed plains occupy most of the region. The vegetation is a transitional community between forest and prairie with woodland extending into grasslands along streams. The prairies are dominated by blue-stem grasses while common forest trees are post and black-jack oaks. One collecting site, Ghost Hollow, has yielded a greater variety of species than any other place. It is located in a thickly wooded ravine which drains into the Cimarron River, one mile northeast of the town of Ripley. Eastern species, rarely found elsewhere in the county, are Aulacomnium heterostichum, Bartramia pomiformis, Fissidens julianus, Hygroamblystegium irriguum, Leucobryum glaucum, and Pogonatum brachyphyllum. Duplicates of all records have been deposited in the private herbarium of the senior author while originals have been retained in the herbaria of the original collectors. In addition, some of Bird's duplicates have been deposited at the National Museum of Canada and at the New York Botanical Garden. Nomenclature follows that found in Grout's Moss Flora of North America with some exceptions where more recent works suggest other usage. In the latter case the older term is placed in brackets.