4 8 . HEDWIGIA, Ehrh. (Pl. 2.)
Stems dichotomous and fastigiate-ramose, radiculose at base.
Leaves 8-ranked, papillose especially on the back ; cells of the
areolation all in distinct series, very small, quadrate or rectangular,
more elongated and sublinear in the middle of the
lamina toward the base only. Flowers gemmiforrn, monoecious.
Calyptra oonloal-mitrate, entire, covering the lid only, fugacious.
Capsule globose, immersed in the perichætium. Lid broadly
convex.
1. H. c ilia ta , Ehrh. Loosely cespitose, pale green : leaves
spreading all around, curved up at the apex, or turned to one
side, densely imbricate when dry, concave, oblong-lanceolate,
narrowed to a short apex rendered pellucid by the absence of
chlorophyll, crenulate on the borders, suhdecurrent and yellowish
at the point of insertion ; perichætial leaves diaphanous,
longer-acuminate, flexuous, ciliate on the borders : calyptra
smooth or with a few hairs : capsule globose, light brown, red
at the orifice ; collum short, inflated ; lid plano-convex with or
without mamilla. — Hann. Magaz. 1781, 109 ; Hedw. Muse.
Frond, i. 109, t. 40; Bryol. Eur. t. 272, 273. Bryum ciliatum,
Dicks. Crypt. Fasc. iv. 6. Pilotriclium ciliatum, Muell. Syn.
ii. 164.
Var. leu co p h a sa , Schimp. More robust and more densely
falcate : leaves broader, without chlorophyll, pellucid two-thirds
of their length.
Var. se cu n d a , Schimp. Stems slender, long, prostrate:
leaves less crowded, secund, with a short pellucid point.
Var. v irid is , Sohimj). Leaves bright green to the apex or
nearly so.
Var. s tr ia ta , Schimp. Leaves plicate, reflexed on the
borders, yellowish green : lid convex-conical.
Hab. On rocks ; very common, and variable according to the localities.
Var. viridis is not rare on the perpendicular face of large boulders of
sandstone or granite in shaded or humid places.
4 9 . BRAUNIA, Bruch Æ Schimp.
Plants widely cespitose, diffusely branching, stoloniferous.
Leaves, areolation, and inflorescence as in Hedwigia. Calyptra
large, cucullate, descending to the middle or to the base of the
capsule, long-beaked, smooth, fusoous. Capsule long-pedicellate,
narrowly elliptical, regular, subincurved, with a short obconical
diflluent collum, rarely subglobose, with a narrow orifice, widemouthed
when deoperculate.
SuBGBNUs I. PSEUDOBRAUNIA.
Leaves diaphanous at the apex, not plicate; areolation quadrate
on the borders, elongated, linear or equilateral in the
middle, fusiform toward the apex, papillose on the back. Capsule
long-pedicellate, pyriform or turbinate; lid short-conical,
mamillate.
1. B. Oalifornica, Lesq. Plants in loose tnfts, diversely
much divided; brandies erect, julaceous, generally thicker at the
apex, simple or divided into short branchlets, sometimes flagellate
: leaves appressed when dry, spreading when moist, subdecurrent
at base, from oblong to broadly ovate, narrowed into
a pellucid more or less elongated crenulate flexuous apex;
borders reflexed : capsule lateral by elongation of the branches,
pyriform, distinctly necked, truncate and enlarged at the orifice
when empty. — Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. xiii. 8 ; Sulliv. & Lesq.
Muso. Bor.-Amer. Exsicc. (ed. 2), n. 226; Sulliv. Icon. Muso.
Suppl. 41, t. 27.
Var. pilifera. Leaves more abruptly acuminate into a
pellucid point: capsule more enlarged at the orifice when dry,
and more distinctly plicate. — Hedwigia pilifera. Mitt. Journ.
Linn. Soc. viii. 45.
Hab. Metamorphic rocks in the mountains of California; Monte
Diablo, etc. (Bolander); the variety on rocks, Vancouver Island (Lyall).
Common on the Pacific Coast and very variable.
Modified as the genus is here it includes both the genera Hedioigidium
and Braunia of Bmcb & Schimper. In the description of B. Oalifornica,
Sullivant (Icon. Muse. Suppl. 41) rightly remarks that this species does
not fall naturally into any of the genera of Schimper’s Hedwigiacem ;
that it has the short plicate capsule of Hedwigidium, and very nearly its
calyptra and operculum, the long pedicel of Braunia, and somewhat the
same shape of leaf and areolation; but that the genus Braunia differs especially
in its long smooth elliptical capsule, the long operculum and calyptra,
and the leaves opaque, not pellucid to the apex. The moss described
above has also a degree of affinity with Hedwigia, but a difference equally