CALYMPERACEAE. 



437 



1. Syrrhopodon floridanus Sull. 

 FLORIDA SYRRHOPODOX. (Fig. 477.) 

 Plants about 1' high, forming large 

 dense, dark green cushions ; stems 

 simple or branching, rooting at base, 

 with crowded leaves, which are curled 

 and twisted when dry, spreading when 

 moist, with a conspicuous broad white 

 base and narrower, dense, dark green 

 apex; margins double and serrate; 

 basal cells hyaline, upper cells and 

 back of vein densely papillose, some- 

 times bearing dense clusters of brood- 

 bodies, by which this species propa- 

 gates. 



At base of palmetto in marshes. 

 Southern United States and Cuba. 



Family 5. POTTIACEAE Bruch & Sehimp. 

 POTTIA FAMILY. 



Plants small, or large, growing in more or less crowded cushions; 

 stems usually erect, short and simple or branching, not tomentose; leaves 

 crowded, spreading often twisted when dry, of various shapes; vein single, 

 percurrent or excurrent into an awn; cells of the basal part of the leaf 

 often larger and clearer than those of 'the apical, which are usually 

 denser and often papillose. Pedicel sometimes very short, mostly elongate 

 and erect ; capsule erect, usually straight, seldom inclined ; calyptra cucul- 

 late; lid conic and beaked; peristome single, rarely lacking, occasionally 

 with a deep basal membrane, teeth 16 or 32, often papillose, sometimes 

 bifid and spirally twisted. A large family of 46 genera and 396 species. 



Leaves much curled and twisted when dry, margins incurved 

 straight or lacking. 



Leaf-margins entire ; teeth 16, entire or irregularly divided. 



Leaf-margins entire ; teeth 16, split or bifid. 

 Leaves only slightly curved or bent when dry. 



A. Peristome short. 

 Leaf-margins toothed at base. 

 Leaf-margins finely crenulate, toothed above. 



B. Peristome none. 



C. Peristome long, twisted. 



peristome short, 



1. Weisia-. 



2. Trichostomum. 



3. Eucladium. 



4. O-yroweisia. 



5. H ymenostyUum . 



6. Tortula. 



1. WEISIA Hedw. 



Plants small, crowded ; stems erect, with branches ; leaves much curled 

 and twisted when dry, mostly subulate-lanceolate with incurved margins; vein 

 ending in the sharp apex ; cells rectangular and clear at base, rounded and 

 small above, papillose on both sides above. Seta erect, slender; capsule erect, 

 ovoid or cylindric, ribbed when dry; peristome single, inserted below the 

 mouth; teeth 16, irregular and papillose, or rarely short and rudimentary. 

 [Named for F. W. Weis.] A small genus widely distributed in temperate 

 regions. Type species: Bryum viridulum L. 



