F I S S ID E N S H e d w .
Acrocarpous.
1. F. exilis Hedw.
2. — pusilliis Wils.
3. — incurvus Starke.
4. — viridulus [Swartz] Wahlenb.
5. — bryoides (L.) Hedw.
6. — Orrii [Lindb.)
7. — osmundoides (Swijziz)
8. — rufulus Br. Schimp.
9. — serrulatiis Brid.
Cladocarpous.
10. — decipiens De Not.
11. — taxifolius (L.) Hedw.
12. — adiantoides (L.) Hedw.
13. — polyphyllus Wils.
Div. 2. ARTHRODONTEI .
Te e th o f peristome transversely jointed, composed externally of
two rows o f coloured cells, with a divisural line between ; sometimes
wanting.
t G A M O P H Y L L E Æ .
Le a v e s bifarious, inserted v er tica lly , with a stipulai- appendage
adnate to the nerve and part o f upper lamina and sheathing the stem.
Fam. 5. FISSIDENTACEÆ.
Plants gregarious or densely cæspitose, very variable in size, simple
or branched, complánate, frondiform, a crocarpous or cladocarpous.
L e a v e s distichous, a lternate, inserted v e r tica lly , each with a median
nerve, united to which for a g rea ter or less extent is a second series
o f small lobules or stipules, which with the upper h a lf of the le a f base
sheathe the stem in an equitant manner ; cells parenchymatous, usually
incrassate, often strongly papillose. Capsule and peristome dicranoid.
Male infl. gemmiform, a xillar, I'adical or terminal.
Besides the great genus Fissidens,— of which Conomitrium and Octodiceras
are regarded as sections— the monotypic Sorapilla S p r u c e is the only other
member, though Lindberg also adds to the family his genus Mittenia
( = Mniopsis M i t t , non D u m o r t .) The species are distributed through all
the tropical and temperate regions of the world, and inhabit wet banks and
rocks, sometimes trunks of trees, and a few float in water.
F I S S ID E N S H e d w i g .
Capsule on a terminal or la teral seta, symmetric or obliquely incurved,
narrowed at base. Ca lyp tra cu cu llate or mitriform. Peristome
o f i6 teeth, c le ft half-way or more into two rough subulate le g s ; or
sometimes truncate and irregular, gen iculato— inflexed when dry. L ea ve s
scalpelliform, the upper basal part conduplicate and amplexicaul.
This most natural and extensive genus was established by Hedwig in
his Fund. Musc. P. II, p. gi (1782), with the character “ Peristome simple, of 16
rather short inflexed teeth ; male fl. gemmiform, in the axils of leaves," and he refers
to it as species, Hyp. bryoides, taxifoUmn, adiantoides and sciuroides L . figuring the
last, presumably as the type. For this reason, and too rigidly we think,
Lindberg retains Fissidens for Leucodon, and transfers all the rest to Schisto-
phyllum. B y this latter name we are at once reminded of the very anomalous
structure of the leaves, and of the different theories which have been ad