Weissia, a genus included in the family of Pottiaceae, was named for Fredrich Wilhelm Weiss by Johannes Hedwig. (Crum 1983)
Species Diversity and Distribution in Ohio: Three species, with various synonyms, of Weissia are listed by Snider and Andreas in
Distribution of Mosses in Ohio (1996). These are:
Weissia controversa Hedw.
Syn. W. tortillis (Schwagaegr.) C. Mull
Syn. W. vividula Hedw. Ex. Bird
According to the maps included by Snider and Andreas, this species occurs throughout north-central, central, and south-central Ohio.
The species appears to spread more laterally in the southern regions than in those of the north. (Snider and Andreas 1996)
Weissia hedwigii Crum
Syn. W. microstoma (Hedw.) C. Mull
This species is depicted as only occurring in Clinton County within the state of Ohio. (Snider and Andreas 1996)
Weissia sharpii Anderson and Lemmon
This species, marked as a rare native, occurs in two counties of Ohio, Greene and Adams. (Snider and Andreas 1996)
Gametophyte appearance:"Small plant in dull, green, yellow, brown, or blackish tufts" is how H. Crum (1983)
first describes the gametophyte of this genus. Other characteristics of the Weissia gametophyte as described by Crum (1983) are:
Leaves (wet): erect-spreading or spreading
Leaves (dry): strongly curled/contorted
Leaves: are larger nearer to the stem's tip
Acute (sharply pointed) with an apiculus
narrowly lanceolate (narrow and tapered from base) / linear-lanceolate
Leaf margins: incurved (starting at shoulders and on to apex)
Upper cells: obscure (dark, indistinct), small, and hexagonal in shape with firm walls and are densely papillose on both sides
Lower cells: these cells are smooth, pale, and short- rectangular in shape
Costa: as an apiculus it is shortly excurrent (raised from leaf blade), smooth, and pellucid (clear, transparent). It has 2 stereid bands.
Papillae: C shaped (Crum and Anderson 1981)
Sporophyte appearance: The sporophytes of Weissia are described in Mosses of Eastern North America by Crum and Anderson in 1981. They are
portrayed as follows:
Setae: terminal, elongated, straight, and yellowish
Capsules: erect and symmetric or nearly so
Ellipsoidal to oblong cylindric
Stomata at extreme base
Annulus: none / narrow and persistent
Calyptra: smooth and naked
Operculum: obliquely rostrate (beaked)
Peristome: diverse or lacking
Peristome teeth: 16- entire or cleft and perforate
Short or rudimentary
Erect
Densely papillose
or
Filiform divided to low basal membrane
Spores: spherical, densely and finely papillose
For illustrations of species within Weissia see Mosses of Eastern North America pg, 294-300
Resources:
Crum, Howard. 1983. Mosses of the Great Lakes Forest, 3rd Edition. pp. 107-108, University of Michigan, Michigan.
Crum, Howard and Anderson, Lewis E. 1981. Mosses of Eastern North America. Columbia University Press.
Snider and Andreas 1996. Distribution of Mosses in Ohio. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Biological Survey, Ohio State University.
Written by Clare Keating
May 2006
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