Wila

Wila may refer to:

Wila, Switzerland

Wila is a municipality in the district of Pfäffikon in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland.

Geography

Wila has an area of 9.2 km² (3.6 sq mi). Of this area, 38.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 51.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 9.1% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (1.1%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).In 1996 housing and buildings made up 6.4% of the total area, while transportation infrastructure made up the rest (2.9%). Of the total unproductive area, water (streams and lakes) made up 0.9% of the area. As of 2007 8% of the total municipal area was undergoing some type of construction.

Wila is situated in the upper Töss Valley.

Demographics

Wila has a population (as of 2007) of 1,903, of which 9.4% are foreign nationals. As of 2008 the gender distribution of the population was 51% male and 49% female. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 7.4%. Most of the population (as of 2000) speaks German (92.4%), with Albanian being second most common ( 1.9%) and Italian being third ( 1.1%).

Wila (lichen)

Wila (Bryoria fremontii) is a dark brown, hair-like lichen that grows hanging from trees in western North America, and northern Europe and Asia. Wila grows abundantly in some areas, and is an important traditional food for many First Nations in North America.

Name

Wila is currently classified as Bryoria fremontii, although it is often still identified by the outdated classification of Alectoria jubata. Several different English names have been recently invented for wila, including black moss, black tree lichen, and edible horsehair lichen, but none of these names are in common usage. There are traditional names for this lichen in at least 20 different indigenous languages in North America. Wila (wee-la) is the Secwepemctsin name for the lichen, and has been adopted in some publications as an appropriate common name for general use. The Nez Perce name is hóopop and the Sahaptin name is k'ʷɨnč.

Identification

Description

Wila (Bryoria fremontii), like almost all of the 23 other species of Bryoria found in North America, is a dark brown hair lichen that grow on trees (mostly conifers). Differentiating the different species of Bryoria can be difficult. The simplest characteristic that distinguishes wila from the other species of Bryoria is that its main branches grow to be quite thick (greater than 0.4 mm wide), and usually become somewhat flattened, twisted, and wrinkled in older specimens. Other species of Bryoria usually have narrower main branches. Wila can also grow to be a lot longer than other species of Bryoria, and is the only species in this genus in North America that regularly grows longer than 20 cm (occasionally reaching 90 cm in length). Wila is often slightly darker in colour than most other species of Bryoria, although there is much variation in this characteristic. Soredia and apothecia are uncommon, but when they are present they are very distinctive, as they are both bright yellow.