The genus Bryoandersonia contains only one species, B. illecebra. B. illecebra was previously known as Cirriphyllum boscii (Schaegr.) Grout. Harold Robinson, who made an intense study of the family Brachytheciaceae, named Bryoandersonia for his advisor, Lewis E. Anderson, who happens to be one of the authors of a reference used for this report.

B. illecebra is a fairly robust moss found mostly on soil, and especially on soil banks, however, it can also sometimes be found on rocks and tree trunks. This moss is very wide-ranging in eastern North America, especially more southward. It can be found from Southern Ontario to Florida and as far west as Texas. In Ohio, it has been reported from nearly half of the counties.

The gametophyte, or the vegetative part most often seen, tends to creep along the ground with stems and branches jutting up slightly. The stems and branches can range in color from bright green to yellow-green to yellow-brown. The branches on the stem are not arranged in any particular pattern. The leaves are crowded on the stems and branches of B. illecebra, giving it an overall rounded rope-like appearance. One close inspection of the leaves, on can see that they are toothed near the top of them and slightly concave, turning inward toward the stem. The leaves also have a distinctive twist near the tip (see photo page). B. illecebra is a dioicious moss, which means that the male privy parts and the female privy parts are on different plants ("two houses").

The sporophyte has a single red to orange-red setae, or stalk. Atop the setae sets a smooth, slightly inclined capsule, the spore-producing part of the sporophyte. The capsule tapers to a well-developed neck where it attaches to the setae.

References

Crum, Howard A. and Lewis E. Anderson (1981). Mosses of Eastern North America . New York: Columbia University, p. 1059.

Snider, Jerry A. and Barbara K. Andreas (1996). A Catalog and Atlas of the Mosses of Ohio . Ohio Biol. Surv. Misc. Cont. No. 2

Written by Lorena Brown
May 2001