Mossia Explained

Mossia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Aizoaceae.^[1] It only contains one known species, Mossia intervallaris.^[2]

Its native range is Lesotho and South Africa and it is found in the provinces of the Cape Provinces, Free State and the Northern Provinces. It is listed as least concern on the Red List of South African Plants.^[3]

The genus name of Mossia is in honour of Charles Edward Moss (1870–1930), an English-born South African botanist, the youngest son of a nonconformist minister, and is noted for being the editor of the first two parts of The Cambridge British Flora published in 1914 and 1920.^[4] The Latin specific epithet of intervallaris refers to unusually long internodes (portion of a stem between two nodes).^[5] Both the genus and species were first described and published in Gard. Chron., series 3, Vol.87 on page 71 in 1930.^[2]

Other sources

• Hall, A.V., De Winter, M., De Winter, B. and Van Oosterhout, S.A.M. 1980. Threatened plants of southern Africa. South African National Scienctific Programmes Report 45. CSIR, Pretoria.
• Hilton-Taylor, C. 1996. Red data list of southern African plants. Strelitzia 4. South African National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
• Pfab, M.F. and Victor, J.E. 2002. Threatened plants of Gauteng, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 68:370-375.
• Raimondo, D., von Staden, L., Foden, W., Victor, J.E., Helme, N.A., Turner, R.C., Kamundi, D.A. and Manyama, P.A. 2009. Red List of South African Plants. Strelitzia 25. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mossia N.E.Br. Plants of the World Online Kew Science . Plants of the World Online . 18 May 2021 . en.
2. Web site: Mossia intervallaris (L.Bolus) N.E.Br. Plants of the World Online Kew Science . Plants of the World Online . 29 October 2021 . en.
3. Web site: Threatened Species Programme Genus: Mossia . redlist.sanbi.org . SANBI Red List of South African Plants . 29 October 2021.
4. Book: Burkhardt, Lotte . Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition . Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition . Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin . 2018 . 978-3-946292-26-5 . pdf . German . Berlin . 10.3372/epolist2018 . 1 January 2021.
5. Heidrun E.K. Hartmann (editor)