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Wardia is a monotypic genus of mosses in the subclass Dicranidae; it contains only the species Wardia hygrometrica, "an aquatic moss endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa." It is the only endemic moss family in South Africa. As it is an aquatic moss, it was first classified in the Fontinalaceae (and in the order of Isobryales), but molecular studies have shown that it is more closely related to the Dicranaceae.
The genus name of Wardia is in honour of Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791–1868), who was an English doctor.The specific epithet hygrometrica refers to the hygroscopic nature of the seta (stalk).
It grows on rocks, either submerged or in splash-zones of fast-flowing mountain streams and waterfalls.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Wardia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
