Apple Moss

Bartramia stricta

The apple moss grows at low elevations in Mediterranean-like climates. The Canadian habitat is limited to eastern Vancouver Island and some of the adjacent Gulf Islands. It can grow on rocks, but generally it is found on well-humidified soil that is free of vascular plants. There is a limited availability of this habitat and development threatens what little there is. This vulnerability has lead to the apple moss being ranked a critically imperiled species in British Columbia, although it receives no official protection by the government.