borders : calyptra reaching to the middle of the capsule : capsule
oval-oblong, of thick texture, slightly constricted under the
orifice, wrinkled lengthwise when dry, light brown; pedicel
twisted to the right; lid long-beaked, straight or bent obliquely
; teeth very variable, linear-lanceolate, broad or narrow,
often truncate or bifid at the apex with two to five articulations,
sometimes merely rudimentary and scarcely distinguishable;
annulus narrow, persistent. — Bryol. Univ. 1. 334; Bryol.
Eur. t. 21. W. controversa and W. microdonia, Hedw.
Var. s te n o c a rp a , Muell. Capsule narrower, suboylindri-
cal, thin-walled, substriate, greenish brown ; lid long-beaked,
cernuous or curved ; teeth nearly entire.
Var. densifolia, Muell. Plants larger, more densely cespitose
: leaves crowded, narrower ; teeth imperfect.
Var. amb ly o d o n , Muell. Leaves shorter and broader:
teeth truncate, very short or scarcely perceivable, pale.—
TFi gymnostomoides and W. microstoma, Nees & Hornsch.
W. JBrandegei, Austin, Bull. Torr. Club, vi. 46.
Var. g ym n o stom o id e s, Muell. Plants small: leaves
shorter than in the normal form: capsule small, elliptical;
teeth rudimentary, scarcely visible. — TFI gymnostomoides, Brid.
Mymenostomum microstomum, Austin, Muse. Appal, n. 63.
Gymnostomum Bauanum, Austin, Bull. Torr. Club, v. 21.
Hab. On the ground in meadows, broken fields, borders of ditches, clay
hanks, etc.; var. stenocarpa in Arkansas [F. L. Harvey); var. amblyodon
in Colorado, (Brandegee); the last variety near Betlilehem, Pennsylvania
{E. A. Bau, E. Wolle), on rocky ground, Palisades of New Jersey
(Austin), New England (Jantes).
The most common, most variable, illusive and ambiguous species.
Among the numerous forms which have been at different times considered
and described as specific, those described above are the more
distinct. To the var. gymnostomoides are to he referred all the specimens
that have been communicated under the generic name Hymenosto-
mum, which genus is not yet known from North America.
2. W . lo n g ise ta , Lesq. & James. Much like the last in
the characters of the leaves, it differs in the dioecious inflorescence,
the numerous male plants with gemmiforrn polyphyllous
aggregate flowers, the small curved ovate 8-sulcate capsule on a
long, very slender, pale yellow pedicel, the teeth of the peristome
large, perfect, linear-lanceolate, laounose along the divisural
line, regularly bifid, spreading when dry, and the spores large
and ferruginous. — Proc. Am. Acad. xiv. 136. W. viridula.
var. australis, Aust. Muse. Appal. Suppl. n. 466, and Bull. Torr.
Club, vii. 4.
Hab. On the ground, Enterprise, Florida ( W. A. Foster, Austin).
The pale green color of the plants, the long slender yellowish pedicel,
the curved capsule, and the large perforated or split teeth give to this
species the appearance of a Dicranum.
3. W. Wolfli. Differs, from the preceding in the generally
larger leaves, nearly exactly tubulose in the upper part, and
curved back when moistened, in the short pedicel of the cylindrical
oblong capsule, which is not sulcate nor constricted under
the orifice when dry, and in the truncate teeth.
Hab. On the ground near Canton, Illinois (S. Wolf).
The dioecious inflorescence especially separates this species from W. viridula,
var. stenocarpa, and also from W. mucronulata, Schimp., which it
resembles in the form of the leaves and in the peristome.
14. DIORANOWEISIA, Lindb.
Plants of larger size ; branches fastigiate. Perichætium distinct,
sheathing. Peristome more perfect ; teeth lanceolate,
distinctly articulate, entire or bifid at the apex. Flowers
monoecious.
1. D. c risp u la , Lindb. Plants pulvinate, rarely cespitose,
yellowish or dark green ; stems slender, 2 c. m. long or more :
leaves enlarged at the concave base, long-subulate and nearly
tubulose in the upper part, costate tq below the apex, open, falcate
secund, much crisijate when dry ; basilar cells narrowly
rectangular, enlarged, quadrate and yellow at the angles ; perichætial
leaves short, tubulose, obtuse, sheathing to near the
apex : capsule long-pedicellate, of thin texture, oblong-ovate,
rugose, constricted under the orifice when dry ; lid obliquely
subulate-rostrate ; teeth of the peristome free to below the orifice
of the capsule, narrowly lanceolate, entire or split at the apex ;
annulus none. — Lindb. in Milde, Bryol. Siles. 47. Weisia crispula,
Hedw. Spec. Muse., 68, t. 12 ; Bryol. Eur. t. 26.
Hab. On decayed trunks, California (Bolander); Rocky Mountains
(B. Hall, Downle); Utah (Watson); Oregon (Nevius).
2. D. c irrh a ta , Lindb., I.e. Plants much divided, ferruginous
in the lower part, bright green above : leaves open, curved up
from the middle, the lower short, lanceolate, the upper much
longer, ovate-concave at base, linear-lanceolate, carinate and re