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Background A survey of the understory bryophytes in the Nectandra Cloud Forest Preserve yielded 1083 specimens distributed among 55 families, represented by 74 genera of mosses, 75 genera of liverworts and 3 of hornworts. We studied and analyzed the bryophytic distribution on six types of substrates: 1) corticolous, 2) epiphyllous, 3) saxicolous, 4) terricolous, 5) aquatic and 6) lignicolous. The richness and composition of bryophyte genera are compared to those of other previous bryophyte surveys from 4 other sites with different oceanic exposures, climatic and geographic conditions in Costa Rica. New information This is a report of the first extensive general survey of bryophytes at the Nectandra Reserve, a premontane cloud forest located on the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica, an area much less studied compared to the Monteverde cloud forest on the Pacific slope.

Epiphyllous bryophytes are poorly documented for temperate eastern North America. Ten liverwort taxa and one moss species are reported as epiphylls on Rhododendron maximum from the Appalachian Plateau (Fentress County, Tennessee, and Menifee County, Kentucky). The Kentucky localities represent the northernmost documented sites for bryophyte epiphylls in eastern North America. Three North American liverwort endemics, Lejeunea ruthii, Leucolejeunea clypeata, and Radula obconica, and the moss, Platygyrium repens, are newly reported as epiphylls. Colony size ranged from

Fissidens hyalinus Hook. & Wils. is often considered to be one of the rarest mosses in the United States. The species, however, is much more common than has previously been assumed. Sixty-five new collections of F. hyalinus, in combination with previous collections, document the species from 28 counties, 7 states, and 5 major physiographic provinces. The species is newly reported for Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia. Fissidens hyalinus is most frequent on bare soil of streambanks in steep and deeply dissected landscapes with calcareous geology and mixed deciduous forests.