Upon the form of the leaves, which are extremely variable, the following
varieties are based: — Var. cuspidatum, Schimp., having leaves with
a more or less broad brown margin, the costa stout and percurrent; Var
méridionale, Schimp., with the costa excurrent into a long filiform point
and the borders narrowly margined; Yar. flaccidum, Bruch & Schimp,,
with slender branches, the longer more distant aud narrower leaves
softer, obsoletely margined, and obscurely serrate at the piliferous apex
generally found in the Eastern States and the White Mountains. À
variety with variously colored capsules, mostly dark red, was distributed
in Sulliv. & Lesq. Muse. Bor.-Am. Exsicc. (ed. 2), n. 283 and 284, as B
occidentale, Sulliv.
32. B. occidentale, Sulliv. Loosely cespitose ; stems
short, tomentose under the crowded tufts of floral leaves;
innovations slender and'few, thicker in the middle: leaves
elliptical or ohlong-lanceolate, entire, flat or slightly reflexed on
the borders ; costa stout, excurrent into a short slightly serrate
point ; basilar areolation quadrate, the upper narrowly rhomboidal
hexagonal ; perichætial leaves slightly narrower: capsule
pendent, oblong, short-necked, with a broad orifice; lid
convex-apioulate ; annulus very broad. The male plants are
slender, branching in successive gemmaceous innovations.—
Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 188, t. 7.
Hab. Near San Francisco (Bigelow).
Separated from the nearly related B. cæspiticium by the erect appressed
decurrent scarcely margined leaves, not so acuminate nor so long-cuspidate,
by the stouter costa, and by the denser areolation composed in the
lo-wer half of quadrate cells. It has also an oblong and smaller capsule,
with but a slight tendency to a pyriform outline, a wide and reddish lid
aud a larger annulus. ~ (Sullivant.)
33. B. obconicum, Hornsch. Plants short, radiculose up
to the innovations : stem-leaves ovate, the comal crowded, open-
ereot, imbricate or slightly twisted when dry, ovate or oblong,
more or less long-cuspidate by the excurrent smooth or slightly
denticulate costa, bordered with a yellow margin : capsule pendent,
long-oboonical, the sporangium gradually narrowed to a
collum nearly as_ long and to the reddish brown pedicel ; lid
hemispherical, minutely papillate. — Bryol. Eur. t. 367.
Mountains, California (Brewer); Florida (D. B.
Smith) ; Colorado ( Wolf & Bothrock).
between B. capillare and B. cæspiticium. From the first
It differs in its shorter gradually acuminate scarcely twisted and more
so id leaves; from the second in the long-necked narrowly obconical can-
sule, whose orifice has a cartilaginous polished border and a bright red
hd. The margins of the leaves are pale yellow, not thickened.
34. B. Oalifornicum, Sulliv. Densely cespitose; stems
and innovations very short, bulbiform : lower leaves distant,
imbricate, the upper densely crowded in small globose heads,
concave, suhquadrate-ovate, short-apiculate ; borders entire and
flat; costa continuing to the apex: capsule dark red, oblong,
pendent, equal and scarcely narrowed at the collum, which is
rugose when dry, obtuse at base ; lid very small, hemispherical;
teeth bright purple, deeply inserted and distantly articulate ;
cilia short, solitary, not appendiculate ; annulus large, revoluble.
— Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 186, t. 6.
Hab. Near Benicia, California (Bipelow, Bolaiider).
As remarked by the author, this species is allied to B. versicolor, which
however has the pedicel more suddenly bent at the base of the inflated
collum, and the leaves longer and long-acuminate by the excurrent costa.
From B. BUndii, to which it is also related, it differs in its narrower
leaves, in the form of the capsule, which is subglobose in the European
species, and in the inner peristome.
35. B. c y c lo p h y llum , Bruch & Schimp. Plants bright
green, soft, loosely cespitose, more or less divided according to
size, radiculose near the base at the axils of the leaves; stem-
leaves distant, broadly ovate, narrowed to the base, the comal
few, broadly oblong, all concave, obtuse, very entire, loosely
areolate, twisting when dry ; costa vanishing below the apex :
male plant similar; perigonium reddish, gemmiforrn: capsule
pendent, short, pyriform, broad-mouthed, constricted under the
orifice when dry; peristome regular. — Bryol. Eur. t. 370.
Mnium cydophyllum, Schwaegr. Suppl. ii. 2. 160, t. 194.
Hab. On stones wet hy spray, at Niagara Falls (G. W. Clinton); wet
rocks, Pennsylvania (James). , • ,
This species is often confounded with B. calophyllum, frorti which it
differs in its broader softer and more loosely areolate leaves, in the inflorescence,
and the regular double peristome of a Bryum, the segments
being separated by appendiculate cilia.
86. B. p a llen s, Swartz. Tufts short, soft, purplish yellow;
lower leaves remote, open or recurved, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate,
decurrent at base, the upper close, tufted, ohlong-acumi-
nate, and mucronate hy the excurrent costa, all surrounded by
a narrow margin composed of two rows of cells ; borders plane
in the upper part, reflexed near the base: male plants more
slender: oapsnie inclined, more rarely pendent, often cernuous
or incurved, rarely regular, long-neoked and pyriform, soft, yellowish
or brown, erect when dry, not constricted under the