Weissia andersoniana R.H.Zander

  • Authority

    Sharp, Aaron J., et al. 1994. The Moss Flora of Mexico. Part One: Sphagnales to Bryales. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 69 (1): 1-452.

  • Family

    Pottiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Weissia andersoniana R.H.Zander

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants hoary-green above, brown below. Stems up to 3 mm long. Leaves 2-2.5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, broadly acute, occasionally weakly cucullate; margins erect or weakly incurved, bordered by 1-2 rows of ± thick-walled and not or weakly papillose cells; costa with cells of ventral epidermis quadrate and papillose, those of the dorsal epidermis elongate and smooth; upper cells in longitudinal rows, 8-11 µm, evenly thick-walled, strongly bulging on both surfaces, with 2-4- spiculose-bifid papillae on both surfaces raised on a solid or hollow column; basal cells differentiated across the leaf and extending upward along the margins to form a low V , up to 15 µm wide, evenly thick-walled. Autoicous. Setae 5-7 mm long, yellow-brown or brown, twisted clockwise; capsules 0.7-0.8 mm long, ovoid to short-cylindric, brown or yellow-brown; exothecial cells 1-2-layered, rectangularrhomboidal, 18-25 µm and 2-3:1, thin-walled; annulus of 3-4 rows of cells; operculum 0.3-0.6 mm long, conic to rostrate; peristome rudimentary or consisting of 16 hgulate to triangular, irregularly cleft teeth up to 9 0 p m long, orange, spiculose-papillose, up to 7-jointed. Spores 15-18 µm, dark brown, densely papillose.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 161

    W. andersoniana Zand., Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 11: 195.1985.

    W. glauca Bartr., Bryologist 30:80.1927, horn, illeg., non (Hedw.) W. Arnott, 1827.

    The more distinctive characters of the species are whitishgreen leaves with a V-shaped border extending somewhat above the shoulders and antler-like papillae. In Tortella the cells of the V-shaped border are thin-walled. Weissia phascopsis Zand, (found in Canada and the United States) may have highly spiculose papillae on leaf cells, but the border is less marked, and the operculum is not or scarcely differentiated.

  • Distribution

    On soil and bark at moderate elevations; Chihuahua and Coahuila.—Northern Mexico; southwestern United States.

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