■62 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. XIII, No. 3, 



NOTES ON OHIO MOSSES.* 



Clara Gould Mark. 



Bryoziphium norvegicum (Bridel) Mitten. This moss was 

 collected in Ohio as long ago as 1849 by Lesquereux, somewhere 

 in the Lancaster region. In the 1863 edition of Gray's manual 

 Sullivant says of it: ''Fruit unknown. Pendent on the per- 

 pendicular faces of sandstone rocks, six miles south of Lancaster, 

 Fairfield County, Ohio. The only other certain habitat recorded 

 for this very interesting Moss is Iceland." As Sullivant himself 

 was not a collector, he doubtless referred to the locality in which 

 Lesquereux had collected the moss. Since that time this species 

 has been collected in several other places in the United States, the 

 only place where it has been found fruiting being the Dells of the 

 Wisconsin, where at two different times a limited number of 

 capsules was collected. The only specimen that has been in the 

 State Herbarium was collected by Miss Riddle at Christmas 

 Rocks in 1899. This moss is not uncommon on the vertical 

 cliffs of the Black Hand sandstone in the Hocking Valley, and 

 usually grows on the walls of the passages made by the enlarged 

 joints in the sandstone, particularly where there are currents of 

 cold air passing through these openings. The plants are usually 

 small and sparsely scattered over the walls, often associated with 

 other mosses. In one place, however, it has been recently found 

 growing luxuriantly and the individual plants often reach a length 

 of an inch and a half. It is rather interesting to note that this 

 locality is six miles south of Lancaster. Perhaps it is the one 

 referred to by vSullivant. 



Buxbaumia aphylla Haller. A single specimen in the State 

 Herbarium, collected in Lake County, in 1879, by Mr. H. C. 

 Beardslee, is labeled "The first for Ohio. " vSo far as there is any 

 record here this is its only occurrence in the State previous to the 

 fall of 1911. Sullivant gives its range as " New England and New 

 York; rare," and Lesquereux and James give it "On the ground, 

 especially of granite regions and mountains; White Mountains; 

 Cascade Mountains, etc.," In the fall of 1911 three specimens 

 were found along the side of a wood road near Jacob's Ladder, 

 and in the spring and fall of 1912 numerous specimens were col- 

 lected in the same locality. This new .station for the species is 

 nearly one hundred and fifty miles farther south than Bcardslee's 

 locality for it in Lake County. An interesting thing about this 

 moss is the manner in which all the capsules point in the same 

 direction — toward the strongest light. 



* Read at the annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science, 

 Columbus, Nov. 29, 1912. 



