Weissia condensa (Voit) Lindb.

  • 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 condensa (Voit) Lindb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants green above, light-brown below. Stems up to about 30 mm high; central strand well developed but often hollow. Leaves up to 2.5 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, sometimes broadly so; margins broadly incurved to involute; costa with ventral epidermal cells quadrate and papillose and dorsal epidermal cells elongate and smooth; upper cells in longitudinal rows, 7-9 µm , evenly thick-walled, bulging o n the upper surface and usually only slightly convex on the lower, with 4-6 bifid papillae o n both surfaces; basal cells differentiated across the leaf, 13-18 µm wide and 2-4:1, thin-walled. Autoicous or occasionally polygamous. Setae 4.5-6 mm long, yellow-brown, twisted clockwise; capsules 0.7-1 mm long, ovoid, yellow-brown; exothecial cells 3^-layered, short-rectangular, 25-35 µm wide and 2-3:1, thin-walled; annulus of 3-4 rows of cells; operculum 0.4-0.7 mm long, conic to rostrate; peristome none or consisting of small, papillose plates, usually hidden below the capsule mouth. Spores (13-)18—25(—28) µm, brown, papillose.

  • Discussion

    Fig. 163

    W. condensa (Voit exSturm) Lindb., Ofvers. Forh. Svenska Vetensk.-Akad. 21:230. 1864.

    Gymnostomum tortile Schwaegr. e*Schrad.,NeuesBot. J. 4:17.1810.

    G. condensum Voit ex Sturm, Deutschl. Fl. 2(11): unnumbered fig. 1811.

    Hymenostomum tortile (Schwaegr. ex Schrad.) B.S.G., Bryol. Eur. l(fasc. 33/36): 56.1846.

    Weissia tortilis (Schwaegr. ex Schrad.) C. Miill., Syn. Muse. Frond. 1: 661. 1849, horn, illeg., non Spreng., 1827.

    W. euteiches Zand., Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 11: 195. 1985.

    As compared with W. controversa, this species has broader, usually oblong-lanceolate leaves with less tightly incurved or involute margins, costa somewhat broader (50-70 µm near the base), capsule wall 3^1-layered, and peristome usually lacking. Weissia condensa is generally autoicous, but some Mexican specimens are variously autoicous, synoicous, and paroicous, o n the s a m e plants or in the same colonies.

    Weissia condensa occasionally has laminal cells bulging on the ventral surface and rather flat on the dorsal, in addition to being papillose. (This is similar to the case in Trichostomum perviride Broth, of the West Indies, which, however, is dioicous.)

    Weissia hedwigii Crum, also known as W . microstoma (Hedw.) C. Miill., horn, illeg., should be looked for in Mexico. It has long-lanceolate leaves, similar to those of W . controversa, and thick capsule walls; the capsule is small at the mouth and constricted below it.

  • Distribution

    On soil or ledges of cliffs at moderate to high elevations; Distrito Federal, Durango, Puebla, Sonora, Tamaulipas.—Mexico; Central America; Brazil; western United States; Europe, North Africa, and the Caucasus.

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