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Weissia brachycarpa (Nees
& Homsch.) Jur. at Niagara Falls, A Moss New to Ontario P. M. Eckel http://www.mobot.org/plantscience/ResBot/index.htm
Originally published in Canadian Field-Naturalist
111: 318-319. 1997. |
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Weissia brachycarpa
(Nees & Homsch.) Jur. at Niagara Falls, A Moss New to Ontario P. M. Eckel Clinton
Herbarium, Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, New York 14211 Eckel,
P. M. 1997. Weissia brachycarpa (Nees & Homsch.) Jur. at
Niagara Falls, a moss new to Ontario. Canadian Field-Naturalist 111(2):
318-319. A collection of the rare
moss Weissia brachycarpa at Niagara Falls, is the first record
for Ontario, the third Canadian province in which the species is known to
occur. This plant is a noteworthy addition to the unusually rich biodiversity
of the Niagara River Gorge. Key
Words: Moss, Weissia brachycarpa, Ontario, Niagara Falls. During a study of the mosses
of the Niagara River Gorge the following moss was discovered: Weissia brachycarpa (Nees
& Hornsch.) Jur. Canada: Ontario, Welland, Regional Municipality of
Niagara, 43°30'N, 79°10'W. City of Niagara Falls: base of wooded embankment
overlooking the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls; in spray on calcareous clay in
lawn; 28 May 1991, Eckel 9302250 (Buffalo Museum of Science). According to Ireland et al.
(1987) Weissia brachycarpa in Canada has been found in two
provinces: British Columbia at one end of the country and Nova Scotia at the
other. Stations reported for the United States by Crum and Anderson (1981)
are located south to North Carolina and west to Texas, but otherwise the New
World distribution is largely eastern North American. The Old World
distribution includes temperate
Europe east to the western states of the former Soviet Union. It is
considered rare throughout its range (Crum and Anderson 1981). Weissia brachycarpa has been recorded
recently in New York State in nearby
Niagara County (Eckel 1987) and just across the Niagara River from the
Ontario station on Goat Island in the city of Niagara Falls, New York (Eckel
and Eckel 1988). All collections were found at the margins of grassy areas by
roadsides or in lawns, a habitat typical for the species. These are the only
stations recorded in New York. As with other species in the
genus, now enlarged by the incorporation of Astomum (Stoneburner
1985), the plants cannot be identified if sterile. Capsules are necessary for
their determination. The capsules of Weissia brachycarpa are
distinctive in the smallness of the capsule opening, perhaps indicating a
tendency of the species toward cleistocarpy, a feature of the subgenus Astomum.
The capsules and leaves tend to be broader than a more common species, Weissia
controversa Hedw., with which it could most easily be confused. Other mosses found associated
at the Ontario station were Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb.,
Barbula convoluta Hedw., B. unguiculata Hedw., Fissidens
taxifolius Hedw., Phascum cuspidatum Hedw., Physcomitrium
pyriforme (Hedw.) Hampe, Pleuridium subulatum (Hedw.)
Rabenh., and Pottia truncata (Hedw.) Fuernr. All are typical of
disturbed soil. Species found here but not recorded for Welland County (now
part of the Regional Municipality of Niagara) according to Ireland and Cain
(1975) are Barbula convoluta, B. unguiculata, Phascum
cuspidatum and Pleuridium subulatum. The last species is
known from only seven other stations in Ontario (Ireland and Ley 1992).
Specimens of these mosses are deposited at BUF. The Niagara River Gorge and
its environs have supported a rich tradition of bryophyte interest beginning
with such notables in the history of bryology as Thomas Drummond, collecting
on the Canadian side in the early nineteenth century, continuing with John
Macoun, Leo Lesquereux and T. P. James, among others, in the latter part of
the nineteenth century. It was also then when Judge George W. Clinton, member
of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, made systematic
collections of interesting mosses on both sides of the Niagara River for
distribution to various herbaria. Nearly all of these individuals included
specimens collected at Niagara in exsiccatae distributed in the past century.
That the moss flora still has populations of interest is supported by recent
discoveries, such as Eucladium verticillatum (Brid.) Bruch
& Schimp. in BSG in Ontario (Eckel 1990) and Didymodon australasiae
var. umbrosus (C.Muell.) Zand. (Eckel 1986) and Bryum rubens
Mitt. (Eckel and Shaw 1990) on the American side of the River. The gorge of the
Niagara River is the focus of the distributive power of converging transient
human populations. It exists in the midst of several dense transportation
networks, not to mention its function as a biological conduit for the Great
Lakes watershed, the waters of which are constricted into a strait, bisecting
and thereby creating the Niagara Peninsula. Such a concentration of vectors
for diaspore movement are coupled with the gorge of the River: an unusual haven of relatively
undisturbed complexes of microhabitats for the capture and retention of such
diaspores. These conditions predate European migrations into the region, with
the consequence that the gorge environment and the microhabitats along its
rim contain nearly 75 percent of the biodiversity (of vascular plants) known
for western New York and adjacent Ontario (Eckel, manuscript in preparation).
The gorge appears to represent a biological sink for the chance seed or spore
that happens into it. The extraordinary biodiversity of the Niagara River and
gorge environment was noted earlier by David F. Day (1887). Despite a return
to the locality in every year subsequent to the original collection, I have
been unable to rediscover the populations of Weissia brachycarpa.
Whether this is due to their naturally ephemeral nature, to chemical lawn
management, or to any of a number of other pressures characteristic of the
natural and artificial environment of the area, is unknown. Acknowledgments Richard Zander determined the specimen collected at Niagara and the manuscript has benefited from his suggestions and comments. Permission to study the floras of the Niagara Gorge has been granted to the author by the Niagara Parks Commission, Ontario, and the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. This study has been supported in part by a grant from the Niagara Frontier Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club. Literature Cited Crum, H. A. and L. E. Anderson. 1981. Mosses of Eastern North America.
Columbia University Press, New York. Day, D. F. 1887. Catalogue of the Niagara Flora.
Annual Report of the Commission for the State Reservation at Niagara for the
Year 1887: 67-133. Also reprinted as pamphlet, Troy, New York. 1888. Eckel, P. M. 1987. Mosses new and rare for New York State. Rhodora
89:375-379. Eckel, P. M. 1986. Didymodon australasiae var. umbrosus
(Musci: Polliaceae) new lo eastern North America. Bryologist 89:70-72. Eckel, P. M. 1990. Eucladium verticillatum (Musci)
second Ontario station. Evansia 7: 15. Eckel, P. M., and M. P. Eckel. 1988. Weissia hedwigii on
Goat Island, second locality in New York State. 1988. Clintonia 3(3): 8-9 Eckel, P. M., and J. Shaw. 1990. Bryum rubens from
Niagara Falls, new to New York State. Bryologist 94(1): 80-81. Ireland, R. R., G. R. Brassard, W. B. Schofield, and D. H. Vitt. 1987.
Checklist of the mosses of Canada II. Lindbergia 13:1-62. Ireland, R. R., and R. F. Cain. 1975. Checklist of the Mosses of
Ontario. National Museums of Canada Publications in Botany 5, Ottawa. Ireland, R. R., and L. M. Ley. 1992. Atlas of Ontario Mosses.
Canadian Museum of Nature, Syllogeus (Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa,
Ontario) 70: 1-138. Stoneburner, A. 1985 [1986]. Variation and taxonomy of Weissia
in the southwestern United States. II. Taxonomic treatment. Bryologist
88:293-314. Received 19 July
1996 Accepted 20 October 1996 |
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