Andreaea

plant genus

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Last updated

June 18, 2026

Quick Summary

Andreaea is a genus of mosses, sometimes called granite mosses, belonging to the order Andreaeales. These plants are typically reddish-brown or blackish, grow to about 2 cm (0.8 inch) in height, and are found in cold climates on noncalcareous rocks like granite or slate. Their leaves are brittle and densely matted. A distinctive feature of Andreaea is that their spore capsules open via four moisture-sensitive slits, earning them the name "slit mosses." The protonema, which produces the plant, attaches firmly to the rock, and the capsule stalk (seta) is very short, with the capsule being raised by the lengthening of the plant stem.1

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bryophyte
Annotated classification
…1 genus in each order, Andreaea, Andreaeobryum, and Takakia, and probably fewer than 100 species in the entire subclass. Until recently, the genus Takakia (2 species) was considered a liverwort rather than a moss, and its classification remains less than perfectly understood. Subclass Sphagnidae
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…1 genus in each order, Andreaea, Andreaeobryum, and Takakia, and probably fewer than 100 species in the entire subclass. Until recently, the genus Takakia (2 species) was considered a liverwort rather than a moss, and its classification remains less than perfectly understood. Subclass Sphagnidae
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