ET 
NortH AMERICAN SPECIES OF LESKEA 467 
mens are destitute of fruit and are unquestionably but forms of Z. 
polycarpa, nearer however the var. pa/udosa than the type. It is 
retained as a variety from the fact that the sporophyte when found 
might possibly offer something distinctive entitling it to specific 
rank, 
3. LESKEA POLYCARPA PALUDOSA (Hedw.) Schimp. Syn. 486. 
1860. 
? Hypnum palustre Huds. Fl. Angl. 429. 1762. 
Leskea palustris Hedw. Descr. 4: 1. pl. 2. 1793. 
Leskea paludosa Hedw. Descr. 4: 115. 1797. 
ypnum inundatum Dicks. Crypt. 4: 17. 1801. 
In dirty green, often blackish spreading tufts; stouter, more 
diffusely branched ; stems and branches longer, somewhat curved 
at tips : stem-leaves usually secund, distant, ovate-lanceolate, acute 
to obtuse, sometimes obliquely acuminate, up to 1.4 mm. long 
and 0.5 mm. wide ; median leaf-cells roundish quadrate, unipapil- 
late on both surfaces ; basal oblong-rectangular : capsule longer, 
often slightly bent or curved, reddish-brown with age. In wet 
places, sometimes submerged, about the base of trees and on 
rotten wood, rarely on stones. 
With the type, but less frequent ; more common in the north- 
west. North Dakota (Holzinger) ; Montana (Holzinger, Wil- 
liams); Idaho (Roll); Oregon (Roll); British Columbia 
(Macoun). 
European bryologists differ not a little in their treatment of Z. 
polycarpa and var. paludosa. The stouter forms of the former are 
often assigned to the latter, in fact distinguishing characters are 
wanting. It is evident that the extremes are so closely connected 
by intergrading forms that it is impossible to say just where Z. 
polycarpa ends and var. paludosa begins. 
4. Leskea arenicola sp. nov. 
Plants somewhat rigid, in loosely spreading tufts, pale yellow- 
ish green passing to reddish brown ; stems 2-5 cm. long, creep- 
ing, radiculose, pinnately branched ; branches simple, ascending, 
sometimes curved ; central strand small, distinct : paraphyllia mul- 
tiform, mostly linear-lanceolate: stem-leaves rigid, secund, 0.4— 
0.5 mm. wide, 0.8—1 mm. long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obliquely 
acuminate, acute to blunt-pointed, scarcely biplicate, margins usu- 
ally recurved at base, entire or sinuate-serrulate above, costa dis- 
appearing in the acumen; leaf-cells somewhat clear, stoutly uni- 
