Species description:
Genus named in honour of a Durch gardener, D. Meese. Species name describing the leaf arrangement in three neat rows (three­angled).

Reproduction:
Sporophytes infrequent, red-brown when ripe.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The most striking feature is the regularly three-rowed arrangement of the leaves that are dark green and strongly divergent from a somewhat sheathing base. These features, plus the wet calcareous habitat are usually enough to separate this moss.

Habit:
Tall to short turfs of dense to loosely compacted, unbranched, shoots in which the dark green leaves are strongly divergent when wet and are in three rows, making leafy shoots appear three-angled when viewed from above.

Similar Species:
Some specimens of Dichodontium pellucidum have leaves that are structurally similar to the Meesia but they are never in three distinct rows, as in Meesia. Oxystegus tenuirostris and Oncophorus virens may also superficially resemble M. triquetra but their leaves are never in three rows.

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  Some Common Mosses of BC

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Meesia trifaria Crum, Steere & Anderson
Meesia tristicha Bruch