BRYACEÆ.
on the lower part, more dense, quadrate or round-hexagonal in
the upper. Flowers monoecious ; the male gemmaceous (in
American species), upon the stem at the base of the branches
or naked in the axil of a perichætial leaf. Capsule pedicellate,
sub-globose or ovate-oblong, apiculate or obtusely rostellate.
Calyptra cucullate. Columella persistent.-
1. P. C arniolicum, Web. & Mohr. Plants minute, ces-
pitulose : stems short, simple or bifid : lower leaves small,
lanceolate, the upper and comal long-lanceolate, spreading or
erect, incurved, complicate when dry ; costa strong, perciirrent
or excnrrent into a short point ; areolation chloropliyllose in the
upper jiart : male flowers at the base of the stems ; capsule
short-pedicellate, subglobose, obtusely pointed, shining, reddish
brown. — Bot. Tasclieiib. 69 and 450 ; Bryol. Eur. t. 5. Acaulon
Carniolicum, Muell. Syn. i. 23.
Ha b . Silicious soil and stones on the plains of Western Kansas (K.
Hall).
2. P. cu sp id a tum , Schreb. Plants subcespitose : stems
short and simple, or divided by basilar innovations or flagelliform
branches: leaves close, shutting up in the gemmules on the
short stems or erect-spreading, more or less distant, ovate-
lanceolate, the terminal carinate-concave, long-acuminate, cuspidate
by the more or less excurrent round costa, very entire,
somewhat revolute in the lower part ; areolation minutely
jfapillose ; capsule on a short straight or slightly curved pedicel,
immersed, globose or rarely ovate, obtusely acuminate, reddish
brown. — Phase. 8, t. 1 ; Bryol. Eur. t. 5.
Var. piliferum, Bruch & Schimp. Costa prolonged into a
long filiform point : capsule larger ; pedicel generally curved. —
P. qnliferum, Sohreb., 1. c., t. 1, fig. 7.
Ha e . Dry soil in old fields, on the borders of meadows, along fences,
etc. Both the normal form and the variety are very common. Otlier
varieties are enumerated by European authors, but are easily referred to
tlie type.
3. P . b ry o id e s, Dicks. Loosely cespitose or occasionally
densely tufted, the plants short, prostrate when old ; innovations
basilar : leaves small, distant, ovate-lanceolate, the upper
oblong-lanceolate, cuspidate by the excurrent costa, concave,
entire and margins recurved : calyptra large, yellowish, reaoli-
ing the middle of the cajisule : capsule emerging on a long thick
BRYACEÆ.
pedicel, oval or oblong, slightly incurved, gradually narrowed
into an obtuse beak, brown. — Crypt, fasc. 4, t. 10, fig. 3 ;
Bryol. Eur. t. 6. P. gymnostomoides, Brid. Bryol. Univ. i. 48.
Pottia bryoides, Lindb. Trichost. 10.
H a e . On the south side of a hill near Oakland, California (Bolander) ;
very rare in the United States.
6. PLEURIDIUM, Brid.
Plants annual, or persisting by innovations from the apex
after the maturing of the fruit. Leaves oblong at base, lanceolate
subulate, obtusely serrate at the apex, costate, the upper
tufted. Calyptra cucullate. Capsule ovate-globose or ovate-
apiculate, smooth, shining, short-pedicellate. — Phascum, Lmn.
and authors, in part. *
* Flowers bisexual.
1. P. su b u la tum , Bruch & Schimp. Plants cespitose,
yellowish green : lower leaves ovate-lanceolate, erect, the upper
lanceolate-subulate, erect-spreading or subsecund, much exceeding
the top of the capsule ; costa broad, reaching to the obscurely
serrate apex : antheridia naked in the axils of perichætial leaves:
capsule globose-ovate, apiculate. - Bryol. Eur. t. 9. Phascum
subulatum, Schreb.; Sulliv. Mosses of U. States, 16.
Var. s tram in eum , Lesq. Plants pale yellow ; stems with
long slender flagelliform innovations and short distant leayms ;
comal leaves more abruptly narrowed at the a]:,ex. — Pleuridium
stramineum, Sulliv. & Lesq. ; Austin, Bull. Ton . Club, vi. 142.
P. subulatum, Lesq. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. xiii. 2. P. subulatum,
var., Watson, Bot. Calif. 11. 359.
H a b . Dry hills and old fields; rare. Pennsylvania (James); California
(Bolander). , . r
Tlie variety -was at first admitted as a species and figured for a plate of
Sullivant’s leones. It is intermediate between the typical form and the
following.
2. P. Ravenelii, Aust. Differs from the last in its shorter
stems, the comal leaves broader, lanceolate or ovate-oblong in
the lower part, carinate, the costa excurrent into a more or less
elongated smooth awl-shaped point, the capsule a little larger
and broadly apiculate. — Bull. Torr. Club, vi. 142.
I lA B . Light sandy soil. South Carolina (Bavenel); New Jersey a n d
New England (Austin, Bennett, Jesup).
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