Flora of North America species comparison

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Meesia uliginosa

broad-nerve hump-moss, meesia moss, swamp hump-moss
Habit Plants 0.1–0.3 cm.
Stem

leaves erect to flexuose when dry, erect when moist, not 3-ranked, ligulate to narrowly lanceolate, 2–4 mm;

base not decurrent;

margins revolute basally and to near apex, entire;

apex obtuse to rounded (to acute in some arctic populations);

costa wide, ending just before apex;

inner laminal cells larger, walls thinner than marginal cells.
Seta

1.5–5 cm.
Sexual condition

usually dioicous.
Capsule

1.5–4 mm.
Spores

40–51 µm.

Meesia uliginosa
Habitat Rich fens, moist calcareous soil banks, soil covered rock crevices
Elevation low to high elevations
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; MI; MT; NY; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Greenland; n Eurasia
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Discussion

Distinguishing features of Meesia uliginosa include the ligulate leaves and strongly revolute leaf margins. The leaves are erect when dry or moist, and the costa is quite strong. The setae are generally much shorter than those of either M. longiseta or M. triquetra. Although M. uliginosa typically has obtuse leaf apices, some arctic populations have somewhat acute leaf apices; these have typical M. uliginosa costal anatomy.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 28, p. 33.
Parent taxa Meesiaceae > Meesia
Sibling taxa
M. longiseta, M. triquetra
Name authority Hedwig: Sp. Musc. Frond., 173. (1801)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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