[From the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 40 : 653-676 6 J 1914.] 



West Indian mosses I 



Elizabeth Gertrude Britton 

 (with plate 25) 



A. West Indian mosses known to Linnaeus 



In Linnaeus' Species Plantarum* 8 generaf and 103 species of 

 mosses are recognized, of A\hich only 2 are known to be tropical 

 American in their distribution, ranging from southern Florida to 

 South America. The first of these tropical species is Bryum albi- 

 dumL. (p. 1 118) known to Dilleniusl as Bryum nanum, lariginis 

 foliis albis, and now known as Octoblepharum alhidum (L.) Hedw., 

 with the type locality on the island of New Providence in the 

 Bahamas. 



The other species, Rhizogoniuni spiniforme (L.) Bruch was 

 the first species of Hypnwn named by Linnaeus and it also was 

 based on a Dillenian description and plate. He called it "the 

 Herring' s-Bone Hypnum" and his specimens were sent to him from 

 Mt. Diabolo, Jam^aica, by Sir Hans Sloane. Its range through 

 the tropics is even wider than that of Octoblepharum , including the 

 Islands of the Pacific; both species are known to occur not only 

 throughout the American tropics but also in Asia and Africa. 



*iio6-ii30. 1753. 



t I- Sphagnum 2 5. Polylrichum 3 



2. Phascum 3 6. Mnium 18 



3. Fontinalis 4 7. Bryum 30 



4. Splachnum 3 8. Hypnum 40 



103 

 t Historia Muscorum 364. pi. 46. f. 21. 1741. 

 Historia Muscorum 332. pi. 43. f. 68. 1741. 

 [The Bulletin for November (40: 599652. portrait) was issued 24 N 1913.] 



653 



