From the Greek oulos (woolly or curly), in reference to the curled leaves of some species.

Autoicous, rarely dioicous. Plants in loose short cushions or tufts. Stems ascending to erect, rarely creeping and with upright branches, simple, sparsely branched. Leaves usually flexuose, sometimes twisted-contorted, crisped or little-altered when dry, spreading when moist, linear to linear-lanceolate from an expanded ovate obovate or oblong base, concave, acuminate; apex acute or subacute; margin plane, ±revolute in the middle; costa strong, sunken in a deep channel, prominent abaxially, ending below apex or percurrent; upper laminal cells small, isodiametric to short-rectangular, thick-walled, papillose; basal laminal cells elongate, thick-walled, with a conspicuous border of quadrate to short-rectangular hyaline cells with thickened transverse walls. Gemmae rarely present.

Perichaetial leaves ±differentiated. Calyptra mitrate, deeply lobed at base, pilose with long erect hairs. Setae long, twisted to the right. Capsules on main stem or branches, exserted, subcylindrical to oblong-ovoid, rarely urceolate, usually deeply 8-ribbed when dry, the base ±tapering to form a neck; stomata superficial, usually restricted to neck, rarely on rim; operculum conico-rostrate to rostellate; rim hyaline, sometimes yellow or red. Peristome double; prostome present in one species; exostome teeth 8 pairs, sometimes splitting, spreading or recurved when dry, minutely papillose, sometimes trabeculate or perforate; endostome segments 8 or 16, slender to filiform, rarely broad and irregular, shorter than teeth. Spores usually unicellular, isomorphic, globose.

Some species of Ulota closely resemble Orthotrichum in growth form, peristome structure and capsule shape, while others resemble Macromitrium in growth form, cell structure of the vegetative leaves, habitat and leaf set. Ulota is distinguished by leaves that are often twisted or crisped when dry, the very thick-walled, papillose, upper laminal cells, the expanded leaf base with a well-differentiated border of a few to many rows of quadrate to rectangular hyaline cells, and the strongly 8-ribbed capsules. The distinctively bordered leaf base separates Ulota from other genera in the Orthotrichaceae.

A genus of about 50–60 species. Ulota is represented in Australia by five species and two additional varieties; one species and two varieties are endemic. All are present in Tasmania, and three occur in Victoria mainly at high altitudes. None has been found in tropical, northeastern Queensland, although some species occur in Papua New Guinea (D.H. Vitt, Acta Bot. Fenn. 148: 5–25, 1995).

These mosses are primarily epiphytes, common on the bark of trees mainly in temperate climates; rarely on rock.

Ulota D.Mohr, Ann. Bot. 2: 540 (1806). Type: Ulota crispa (Hedw.) Brid.

Excluded Names

Ulota glaucescens Watts & Whitel., Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 30 (Suppl.): 96 (1906), nom. nud.

Ulota stellulata Hook. & Grev. ex Watts & Whitel., Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 30 (Suppl.): 97 (1906), nom. nud. Based on: Mt Ellery [Mt Elliot], Gippsland, Vic., coll. unknown; MEL.

The specimens on which Malta’s (1933) revision was based were borrowed from Venturi’s herbarium at Trento (TR) and Brotherus’ herbarium at Helsinki (H-BR). The latter collections, borrowed by Malta in Riga in the 1920s, were thought to have been destroyed, but these were located and returned to H-BR in 1996. In addition, Australian collections of W.A.Weymouth at HO were examined, among which are a number of isotypes. Although not annotated as such nor apparently examined by Malta, these match both label data and actual specimens in BM and TR.

The identity of the species accepted here is confirmed by the fact that they can be readily separated in mixed populations. Species are difficult to name on leaf characters alone, but they can be recognised by a combination of leaf and sporophyte attributes. Capsules differ in shape, the presence or absence of a long neck, colour of the rim, location of stomata, and differences in the peristome, especially the endostome. Leaves on sterile shoots should be examined to avoid confusion with perichaetial leaves.

Dixon, H.N. (1926, 1929), Studies in the bryology of New Zealand, with special reference to the herbarium of Robert Brown, Bull. New Zealand Inst. 3(4): 180 (1926); 3(6): 365–366 (1929).

Jarman, S.J. & Fuhrer, B.A. (1995), Mosses and Liverworts of Rainforest in south-eastern Australia 50.

Malta, N. (1933), A survey of Australasian species of Ulota, Acta Horti Bot. Univ. Latv. 7:
1–24.

Mitten, W. (1860), Descriptions of some new species of Musci from New Zealand…, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 4: 64–100.

Rodway, L. (1914), Tasmanian Bryophyta 113–116.

Sainsbury, G.O.K. (1955), Notes on Tasmanian mosses from Rodway’s Herbarium: III, Pap. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania 89: 13–20.

Sainsbury, G.O.K. (1955), A handbook of New Zealand mosses, Bull. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 5: 1–490.

Venturi, G. (1893), Ulota, in V.F.Brotherus, Oefvers. Finska Förh. Vetensk.-Soc. 35: 42–44.

Vitt, D.H. (1982), The genera of Orthotrichaceae, Beih. Nova Hedwigia 71: 261–268.

Vitt, D.H., Koponen, T. & Norris, D.H. (1993), Bryophyte flora of the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. LIII. Ulota and Schlotheimia (Orthotrichaceae, Musci), Acta Bot. Fenn. 148: 5–25.

Weymouth, W.A. (1894), Some additions to the moss flora of Tasmania, Pap. & Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania 1893: 200–210.

H.P. Ramsay, D.H. Vitt & J. Lewinsky-Haapasaari (2012), Australian Mosses Online 47. Orthotrichaceae. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. Version16 June 2012. 

First published as: H.P. Ramsay (2006), Orthotrichaceae: Ulota, Fl. Australia 51: 228–236. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra & CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.