Var. ca sspitans, Schimp. Plants loosely cespitose, much
longer, branching by innovations ; lamina narrow, the borders
and costa disappearing below the minutely serrulate apex.
H a b . Shaded ground ; often covering the earth of flower pots in conservatories
; the variety at News River, White Mountains {Rev. D. D.
Allen).
3. F. in c u rv u s , Schwaegr. Plants very slender and small :
leaves linear or oblong-lanceolate, apiculate, with a very narrow
border vanishing toward the apex ; costa terminating below the
obscurely erose apex or excurrent in a sharp point ; capsule
horizontal or oblique, rarely erect, small, oval. — Sup])l. ii. 5,
t. 49 ; Bryol. Eur. t. 99 ; Braithw. 1. c. 69, t. 10, C. Dicranum
incurvum, Web. & Mohr.
H a b . Shaded rocks and on sandstone in streams ; not rare.
According to Schimper the species is not distinctly defined. The only
essential character is the terminal position of tlie male flowers. Austin
asserted that he had found a form of it with axillary male flowers, which
seems to indicate that it is a mere variety of F. bryoides.
4. F. in c o n s ta n s , Schimp. Similar to F. incurvus in size
and aspect; plants generally simple: leaves 8 to 16 pairs,
linear-lanceolate, acute ; borders narrow, hyaline, continuous to
near the slightly serrulate apex ; dorsal wing entire, narrowed
to the base and there confluent with the pellucid costa, which
ends below the apex : flowers synoecious or monoecious,
antheridia and archegonia numerous and terminal, without para-
physes, or the male buds axillary in the lower leaves of the
fruit-bearing plants: calyptra split to near the apex: capsule
cyliiidric-oval, erect; lid conical, rostellate, nearly erect.—
Syn. Muse. (ed. 2), 114. F . synoicus, Sulliv. Mosses of U.
States, 103.
H a b . San Marcos, Texas (Wright).
The author remarks that the species is very inconstant in its mode of
fructification, which is sometimes terminal and cladogenous, sometimes
axillary, and that the capsule is smaller than in F. incurvus, of which it
may be a variety. In the Texan specimens we have generally found the
flowers terminal and synoecious, but sometimes with axillary buds near
the base of the fertile plants. The stems are stronger, the leaves shorter
and broader, and the areolation smaller than in F. incurvus. It is referred
to F. bryoides by Braithwaite.
5. F. lim b a tu s , Sulliv. Plants small : leaves 8 to 10 pairs,
oblong, acuminate, with a thick costa ending below the apex
and a pellucid border gradually enlarging from near the apex to
the base of the auricles ; areolation minute-subquadrate below,
loose and angularly rounded in the lamina : flowers monoecious,
the male gemmiforrn, axillary: capsule unequally oval, subcernuous;
teeth split to near the base, much inflexed. — Pacif.
R. Rep. iv. 185, t. 1.
Hae. Near San Francisco (Bigelow).
Comparabie to F. bryoides, from which it differs in the cernuous capsule,
the deeply split teeth, and especially the pellucid entire margin,
which becomes very broad at the base of the auricles.
H- Plants o f larger size.
6. F. c ra s s ip e s , Wils. Plants 2 to 4 o. m. long : leaves
close, soft, lingulate-acuminate, unequally margined, the border
enlarged below to the middle of the auricles, disappearing toward
the base and below the slightly crenulate apex; costa
thick, subpercurrent: flowers terminal; male buds on basilar
branchlets : capsule nearly erect, oblong-oval, strongly constricted
below the orifice when dry ; lid short-beaked ; pedicel
thick, reddish toward the base, yellowish above ; segments of
the teeth distinctly papillose; annulus minute. — Bruch &
Schimp. Bryol. Eur. 1.100. F . incurvus, var. crassipes, Schimp.
F . viridulus, var. major, Wils. Bryol. Brit. 303, t. 53, R.
Ha b . On wet rocks; not rare in Europe.
The species is admitted on the authority of Jaeger’s Fissidentaceæ, n.
77. We have seen no American specimen of it.
7. F. F lo rid a n u s , Lesq. & James. Plants of about the
same size as in the preceding, branching from the base, brown
in the lower part, bright green above : leaves densely crowded,
the upper slightly scythe-shaped, plicate to above the middle,
minutely erose-denticulate at the apex, surrounded below by a
somewhat large pale border ; costa vanishing below the apex ;
areolation minute, hexagonal, narrower and less distinct in the
lamina, which is prolonged on the back of the auricles and
abruptly out at base : flowers monoecious ; the male terminal on
somewhat long lateral branches; the perichætium on a short
radiculose branch from the middle of the stem, bearing one
or rarely two fruits; perichætial leaves loosely areolate, with
broad auricles narrowly alate to the middle, abruptly narrowed
above into a short lamina : capsule oblong-ovate, cernuous, on a
thick reddish pedicel; lid large, long-beaked. — Proc. Am
Acad. xiv. 137.
Ha b . Florida (Garber).