# Bryophyte flora of Mexico
The bryophyte flora of Mexico is the documented assemblage of mosses (Bryophyta), liverworts ([Marchantiophyta](https://www.edgepedia.org/marchantiophyta)), and hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) recorded from Mexican territory. Current counts stand at 997 moss species, roughly 600 liverwort species, and 16 hornwort species, giving a national bryophyte flora of about 1,600 species.[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887) The moss flora alone comprises 75 families, 325 genera, and about 1,000 species and varieties, of which roughly 77, or about 8%, are endemic.[2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211) This article covers the national and state-level checklists, the diversity and biogeographic patterns they reveal, and the surveys and infrastructure behind them; it stops short of species-by-species treatment.
| Key fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Documented mosses (Bryophyta) | 997 species; ~1,000 species and varieties | [1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887), [2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211) |
| Documented liverworts (Marchantiophyta) | ~600 species; 592 species and varieties with 105 endemics | [1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887), [3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext) |
| Documented hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) | 16 species (2014 count: 9, with 3 endemics) | [1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887), [3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext) |
| Endemic mosses | 77 species, about 7–8% of the moss flora | [2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211), [4](https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895) |
| Richest state | Veracruz, 590 moss taxa (55% of the national moss flora) | [2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211) |
| Most diverse moss family nationally | Pottiaceae, 158 species and varieties | [5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) |
| Most diverse liverwort family | Lejeuneaceae, 48 genera | [3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext) |
| Officially protected mosses | 6 species recognized as rare or endangered | [5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) |
## Historical surveys and checklists
Mexican mosses have been studied since the mid-19th century. Bescherelle produced the first national catalog in 1872, and in 1951 Howard Crum's unpublished thesis listed around 836 species and varieties for the country.[6](https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b7010c1b-8013-4a3c-a43b-4309a91f9629) The landmark modern treatment is Sharp, Crum and Eckel's *The Moss Flora of Mexico* (1994), the reference on which subsequent national counts build.[6](https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b7010c1b-8013-4a3c-a43b-4309a91f9629)
A research group organized from 1972 onward, with expeditions from the UNAM Instituto de Biología and support from CONABIO, systematized the national moss database; a GBIF-indexed version records 25 orders, 76 families, 277 genera, and 706 species from the herbarium specimens processed.[6](https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b7010c1b-8013-4a3c-a43b-4309a91f9629) State-level work followed. In Chiapas, botanist Dennis Breedlove began collecting in 1964 and had made more than 38,000 collections by 1981, including 500 bryophytes; a 1986 compilation had listed only 126 mosses and 22 hepatics from the state, but the subsequent checklist reported 364 moss species and 310 liverwort and hornwort species.[7](https://scispace.com/pdf/a-checklist-of-the-bryophytes-of-chiapas-mexico-2s7ky70y51.pdf) A targeted 1988 expedition in Chiapas generated 1,420 bryophyte collections that underpinned those totals.[7](https://scispace.com/pdf/a-checklist-of-the-bryophytes-of-chiapas-mexico-2s7ky70y51.pdf) For Querétaro, a floristic survey recorded 212 moss species, including *Schistidium agassizii* new to the country.[8](https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2008)111[41:fabotm]2.0.co;2) The 2014 national assessments recognized 984 moss species and varieties based on literature records and specimens in the Herbario Nacional (MEXU),[5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) a figure that has since risen to 997.[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887)
## Diversity and composition
The three bryophyte groups are unevenly known. The moss count of 997 species[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887) rests on a century of targeted work; the liverwort count of about 600 species corresponds to 592 species and varieties recognized in the 2014 assessment, nearly 12% of the world's roughly 5,000 liverwort species, with 105 Mexican endemics (about 18% of the national total).[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887) • [3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext) Hornwort diversity is small and was evaluated at 9 species, 3 of them endemic, in the 2014 preliminary assessment, but the 2024 synthesis recognizes 16 Anthocerotophyta species.[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887) • [3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext)
**Family dominance differs sharply between the two large groups.** The Pottiaceae, a family of small acrocarpous mosses, is Mexico's most diverse moss family with 158 species and varieties, and 25 of the 75 moss families together contain 80% of the national moss flora (792 species and varieties).[5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) Among liverworts, the leafy Neotropical family Lejeuneaceae is the largest with 48 genera, and 96 of the 105 endemic liverwort species are concentrated in just 9 families.[3](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext)
Moss endemism is comparatively low: 77 endemic moss species, about 8% of the flora, down from the more than 10% (103 species) reported earlier, whereas alpine vegetation reaches 17% endemism.[4](https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895) • [5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) [Cluster analysis](https://www.edgepedia.org/cluster-analysis) and mapping identify three main areas of moss endemism: lowland areas in various states, the mountain belt along 19–20°N latitude, and the highlands of Oaxaca and Chiapas.[4](https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895) The presence of five monotypic genera and many narrowly ranged endemic species suggests that this endemism is recent, the product of speciation shaped by [Pleistocene](https://www.edgepedia.org/pleistocene) environments in the highlands rather than ancient relict lineages.[4](https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895)
## By the numbers
The best-collected states dominate the counts. Veracruz hosts 64 families, 229 genera, and 590 moss taxa, equal to 55% of Mexico's mosses, though only two of the 77 national endemics occur there.[2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211) Chiapas holds 39% of the mosses known from Mexico and 50% of its leafy hepatics (288 of at least 550 leafy liverwort species).[7](https://scispace.com/pdf/a-checklist-of-the-bryophytes-of-chiapas-mexico-2s7ky70y51.pdf) Oaxaca's moss flora was counted at 459 species.[5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext) At the other end of the collecting spectrum, Querétaro's 212 species show what a dedicated state survey yields in a smaller, more seasonally dry territory.[8](https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2008)111[41:fabotm]2.0.co;2)
Family concentration is similar at state and national scales. In Veracruz, Pottiaceae is again the most diverse family, with 33 genera and 84 species, and just 22 families encompass 83% (491 taxa) of the state's mosses.[2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211) The states along the Eje Neovolcánico together hold around 596 moss species, close to Veracruz's standalone total.[5](https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext)
## Biogeographic patterns: a Neotropical-Nearctic transition flora
Mexico sits at the junction of the Holarctic and Neotropical floristic realms, and its moss flora is a transition flora between them, with neotropical elements generally dominant across a broad altitudinal and latitudinal gradient.[9](https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1540) At least seven phytogeographic elements are represented in the national flora: Northern, Meso-American, Caribbean, Southern, Wide distribution, and Endemic.[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887)
**The partition is quantified.** The Meso-American element comprises 181 species (18.7% of the flora) and, with the Caribbean element, accounts for 43% of the entire moss flora; the Northern element comprises 147 species (15.2%) and the Chihuahuan element 18 species (2.0%).[9](https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1540) The flora as a whole is therefore essentially neotropical, with the endemic element further emphasizing that character.[9](https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1540) At the southern tropical end, the Lacandon Forest of Chiapas shows a moss flora whose Caribbean relationships dominate, with 82 species, while endemic taxa are virtually absent; 31 pantropical and 14 disjunct taxa are shared with other tropical areas.[10](https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2002)105[0327:tlfcma]2.0.co;2)
The transition also runs along elevation. The Neovolcanic Belt moss flora totals 531 species with 7.9% endemism, rising to about 19% in its alpine areas, while the southern part of the country holds 557 species with the Caribbean element at 33.4%.[9](https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1540) Regionally, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Sierra Madre Oriental, Chihuahuan Desert, and [Sierra Madre del Sur](https://www.edgepedia.org/sierra-madre-del-sur-landform) carry the highest numbers of endemic moss species, and the mountain belt along 19–20°N stands out as an endemism center.[4](https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895)
## Habitat and state hotspots
In Veracruz, floristic richness estimated from forty-two 12×12 minute grid cells predicted up to 590 moss taxa under the broad Humid Mountain Forest definition, and even the most restrictive cloud forest definition contained 323 species and varieties.[11](https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/nova_hedwigia/detail/105/87694/Floristic_richness_of_the_cloud_forest_moss_flora_of_Veracruz_Mexico) Within Querétaro, the [Sierra Madre Oriental](https://www.edgepedia.org/sierra-madre-oriental) province is the richest, holding about 82% of the state's moss diversity, and a parsimony analysis of endemism identified three distinct moss regions in the state.[8](https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2008)111[41:fabotm]2.0.co;2) Tropical lowland forest contributes a distinct element: 700 specimens from the [Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve](https://www.edgepedia.org/montes-azules-biosphere-reserve) in the Lacandon Forest yielded 136 species and varieties, ten of them new to Mexico, for a regional total of 144 taxa with published reports.[10](https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2002)105[0327:tlfcma]2.0.co;2)
Topography underlies the state-level patterns. Veracruz spans 17–22°N latitude and elevations from sea level to 5,635 m, the country's maximum altitude, packing a full tropical-to-alpine gradient into a single state.[2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211)
## What has changed recently
Recent developments have updated the documented flora. First, a fifty-year review of Mexican bryology fixed the national totals at 997 Bryophyta species, about 600 Marchantiophyta species, and 16 Anthocerotophyta species, raising the hornwort figure well above the 9 species of the 2014 preliminary assessment.[1](https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887) Second, a 2023 revision of the epiphytic moss genus *Pilotrichella* in Mexico, based on 260 MEXU specimens, recognized four species and reported the Peruvian *P. vermiformis* as new to Mexico from Hidalgo, Veracruz, and Oaxaca.[12](https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2023.94.5143) Third, a field trip to southern Mexico recorded the hornworts *Anthoceros subtilis* and *A. telaganus* for the first time in Mexico and on the American continent, extending their ranges from Asia and Indonesia respectively.[13](https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.529.1.7) The 2025 Veracruz checklist, citing the 2024 national moss count, places the national moss flora at about 1,000 species and varieties.[2](https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211)
## References
1. Fifty years of Bryology in Mexico. Botanical Sciences. https://www.botanicalsciences.com.mx/index.php/botanicalSciences/article/view/2887
2. Lista florística de Veracruz: musgos. 2025. https://doi.org/10.21829/fv.636.2025.211
3. Biodiversidad de Anthocerotophyta y Marchantiophyta en México. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 2014. https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?lng=es&nrm=iso&pid=S1870-34532014000200012&script=sci_arttext
4. Moss endemism in the Mexican flora. Systematics and Biodiversity, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2019.1620895
5. Biodiversidad de Bryophyta (musgos) en México. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 2014. https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S1870-34532014000200011&script=sci_arttext
6. Los musgos de México (CONABIO/UNAM dataset). GBIF. https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b7010c1b-8013-4a3c-a43b-4309a91f9629
7. A checklist of the bryophytes of Chiapas, Mexico. https://scispace.com/pdf/a-checklist-of-the-bryophytes-of-chiapas-mexico-2s7ky70y51.pdf
8. Floristics and Biogeography of The Mosses of the State of Querétaro, Mexico. The Bryologist, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2008)111[41:fabotm]2.0.co;2
9. Musgos mexicanos: una flora de transición en el Continente Americano. Botanical Sciences. https://doi.org/10.17129/botsci.1540
10. The Lacandon Forest (Chiapas, Mexico): A Benchmark Area for Tropical Mosses. The Bryologist, 2002. https://doi.org/10.1639/0007-2745(2002)105[0327:tlfcma]2.0.co;2
11. Floristic richness of the cloud forest moss flora of Veracruz, Mexico. Nova Hedwigia. https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/nova_hedwigia/detail/105/87694/Floristic_richness_of_the_cloud_forest_moss_flora_of_Veracruz_Mexico
12. Pilotrichella (Bryophyta: Lembophyllaceae) in Mexico. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 2023. https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2023.94.5143
13. Anthoceros subtilis and A. telaganus (Anthocerotaceae): two new records for America from the hornwort flora of Mexico. Phytotaxa. https://phytotaxa.mapress.com/pt/article/view/phytotaxa.529.1.7
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Plants and algae › Mosses and other bryophytes › Regional bryophyte floras › North American bryophyte floras › Mexican bryophyte floras*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license