The Moss family Timmiaceae consists solely of the genus Timmia. This genus was named after the German botanist Joachim Christian Timm who wrote the book Florae Megapolitaneae Prodromus (Anderson and Crum 1981). Adding to the fame of this moss genus is the recent naming of a mountain in its honor (Crum 1983). Like its namesake, Mt. Timmia is an object of meager proportions with an elevation of only 875 meters (2871 feet). The mountain is located on Ellesmere Island in the northernmost part of canada, directly across from Greenland.

Timmia megapolitana is also known as the "Warrior Moss" (Crum 1983). This is because the calyptra doesn't completely fall off the capsule at maturity. Instead it sticks up behind it. To some imaginative people thought the position of the calyptra resembles a feather, like those worn by indians going into battle. T. megapolitana grows in the shade on wet or damp soil. Usually on the banks of streams or sometimes on moist road banks. If enough moisture is present, T. megapolitana has also been found in the crevices of cliffs (Flowers 1973). T. megapolitana has a very large range including Northern Europe, Siberia, Japan, Alaska to British Columbia, Kansas And South Dakota, Manitoba to Quebec, South Dakota to Virginia, Ohio, and Arkansas to Nebraska (Flowers 1973).

Timmia megapolitana grows in small tufts 1.5 - 6 cm high and can often be confused for moss in the genera Polytrichum or Atrichum (Crum 1983). One distinguishing feature between the two is that T. megapolitana doesn't have lamellae. When the sporophyte is present the two genera are easily distinguished because the endostome of all mosses in the genus Timmia have 64 cilia.

Literature Cited
Anderson and Crum, Howard. Mosses of Eastern North America.vol II. 1981. Columbia University Press. New York. pp. 658-664.
Crum, Howard. Mosses of the Great Lakes Forest third edition. 1983. University of Michigan. pp.190-192 .
Flowers, Seville. Mosses: Utah & the West 1973. Brigham Young University Press. pp 320-323.

Written by Jay Tingle 2003