GRIMMIA. TERETINERVIS LIVIPR. IN NORTH AMERICA. 



By John M. Holzinger. 



FOR nearly fifteen years the writer has had under observation 

 a plant which occurs abundantly in certain localities near 

 Winona, on arenaceous boulders near the tops of our bluffs. 

 It prefers north exposures, and grows io dense, black green cush- 

 ions one to four inches in diameter. It has been found at several 

 stations within a radius of forty miles, but always sterile, or with 

 depauperate female flowers only. All attempts at a satiirfactory 

 determination of this plant in its sterile form have been futile, 

 until recently I happened upon Limpricht's figures of leaf sections 

 of his Grimmia teretinervis ; these agreed strikingly with the 

 accompanying figures of leaf-sections of the American plant 

 drawn some time prior to the discovery. Professor Limpricht at 

 first referred this plant doubtfully to Eugrimviia, but entered it 

 in his Laubmoose under Schistidiinn. Had he adhered to his 

 first judgment and entered it as a Eugrimmia, the determination 

 could have been made long ago, for I have persistently referred 

 it to Eugrimtnia. I am of opinion that the plant belongs nearer 

 to Grimmia Olneyi Sulliv., and Grimmta campestris Burchell, 

 than to any other American species of this genus. The reasons 

 for this conclusion will be suggested by a comparison of leaf-cells 

 and leaf-sections figured below, without detailed discussion. 



Prof. Limpricht, to whom the plant has been referred for 

 comparison, states that he considers it correctly determined. He 

 has also kindly sent for comparison some of the plants collt cted by 

 J. Breidler in Steinmark, cited in Laubm, i : p. 718. These plants 

 agree very closely with the American plants and fully clear up all 

 remaining doubts. Prof. Limpricht describes the stems as un- 

 branched; Breidler's plants are certainly branched, as are those 

 from near Winona. The leaves a*e described as "lance linear 

 from (or above) a decurrent oval base;" this description of an 

 "oval base" had vexed me a little, apparently constituting a 

 disagreement; but the leaves on Breidler's and the American 

 plant are exactly alike in shape. Then, our plants seemed to 

 have none of the golden-yellow gemma? (Brutkorper) mentioned 

 at the end of the author's description. On this point Prof. Lim- 

 pricht writes, in his letter dated February 4, 1900: "The species 

 never shows gemma;; my citation rests upon an error into which 

 I was led by the scant original material in i88j, which was mixed 



