horizontal, short-ovate, turgid, solid, black when old, polished
and subglobose when empty ; lid convex-conical ; segments
split open ; cilia appendiculate ; annulus large. — Muse. Recent,
ii. 2. 107. .Brachythecium Starkii, Bruch & Schimp. Bryol.
Eur. t. 541.
I I a b . Mountains of New England (Oakes) ; Pennsylvania (James).
Variable in its more or less robust character and longer subcreeping
pinnately ramulose stems. In Its slender state the species resembles the
next. It is generally of a darker green color.
50. H. re flex um , Starke. Monoecious : entwining, widely
cespitose, flat, pale or yellowish green ; stems slender, long-
procumhent, more or less pinnately ramulose ; branches and
branchlets curved : stem-leaves more distant, spreading, subsecund
on the branchlets, broadly ovate, more or less abruptly
subfiliform-acumiuate, decurrent at base, minutely serrate all
around; costa subpercurrent; alar cells loosely oval-quadrate ;
perichætial leaves ecostate : capsule small, ovate-globose, solid,
abruptly horizontal; operculum convex-conical, apiculate; segments
split nearly their whole length ; cilia slender, appendiculate;
annulus narrow. — Web. & Mohr, Bot. Tasch. 306 and
476; Schwaegr. Suppl. ii. 1. 161, t. 143. Brachythecium reflexum,
Bruch & Schimp. 1. c., t. 539. II. subtenue, James,
Proc. Acad. Philad. 1855, 447.
H a b . Gorham, New Hampshire (James); Garrett County, Maryland
(J. Donnell Smith).
51. H. oe d ip o d ium . Mitt. Monoecious : stems procum-.
bent, loosely cespitose, suhpinnately divided ; branches radiculose
; leaves broadly ovate-acuminate, costate to the middle,
serrulate on the borders ; cells of the basal angles numerous,
quadrate ; perichætial leaves convolute, broadly elliptical-acuminate,
serrulate at the apex, ecostate : capsule inclined, oval, un-
symmetrical ; pedicel thick, minutely scabrous ; lid conical ;
peristome normal; cilia two, appendiculate. — Journ. Linn. Soc.
viii. 32, t. 5.
H a b . Lake Huron ( Todd) ; Pack Eiver and Eocky Mountains (Lyall) ;
Bitterroot Mountains, N. W. Montana ( IFaison).
Like H. Starkii in the thick seta and appearance of the capsule, hut
the leaves differ in texture, and in drying do not become striated.
52. H. ru ta b u lum , Linn. Monoecious : loosely cespitose,
bright or yellowish green, scarcely glossy; stems prostrate,
creeping ; branches and branchlets erect, gradually attenuate to
the apex : leaves open, broadly ovate-lanoeolate, gradually acuminate,
narrowed and cordate at base, not inflated at the angles,
obscurely plicate, serrate all around, costate to above the middle
; areolation loose, rhomhoidal, the alar cells large, the basilar
oblong or hexagonal ; perichætial leaves abruptly narrowed
into a filiform point, reflexed from tlie middle : capsule oblong
or ovate, turgid, subarcuate, solid, chestnut-color, brown when
old; pedicel long and strong, purple, very rough; operculum
large, convex-conical, acuminate ; segments split in the middle ;
cilia as long as the segments, two or three, not appendiculate ;
ammlus double. — Spec. PI. 1124; Iledw. Muse. Frond, iv. 29,
t. 12. Brachythecium rutabulum, Bruch & Schimp. Bryol.
Eur. t. 543.
Var. lo n g isetum, Brid. Stem long, suhpinnately ramulose,
loosely foliate : capsule oblong, subincurved on a very long
slender pedicel.
\ ai'. flavescens, Brid. Stems and branches very long,
prostrate, flaccid : leaves very broad, more abruptly acuminate,
soft, yellowish green.
Var. p lum u lo sum . Small, soft, with sliort branchlets:
leaves ovate-lanceolate, narrowly acuminate, glossy. — Bruch &
Schimp. I. c., as Brachythecium.
Var. d en sum . Branchlets close: leaves crowded, loosely
imbricate, dark green : capsule short-pedicellate, thick. — Bruch
& Schimp. 1. c.
Var. ro b u s tum . Stems prostrate, long; branches and
branchlets stout: leaves close, broader, bright green. — Bruch
& Schimp. 1. c.
H a e . Common on shaded ground, roots of trees, and stones; plains
and mountains; AY. Humboldt Mountains, Nevada (Watson).
A very variable species, often confounded with II. salebrosum, from
which it differs in the scarcely plicate, less long-acuminate and less glossy
leaves, and the very scabrous pedicel.
53. H. a sp e rrim um , Mitt. Closely resembling the last,
from wliioh it differs in the dioecious inflorescence, the stems
more rigid, the leaves narrower, oblong-lanoeolate, acuminate
and scarcely plicate, the alar cells quadrate, smaller, less numerous
and not granulose, the pedicel very rough, and the operculum
abruptly longer-apiculate. — Journ. Linn. Soc. viii. 33,
t. 6.
H a b . British Columbia (Douglas, Lyall); California (Bolander).