Bryuvi cccspiticium, as its name indicates, forms dense tufts, 

 bright green and glossy. The leaves end in a long serrate bristle, 

 are crowded, but not twisted when dry, with narrow marginal 

 cells. It is conspicuously dioicous, the antheridial heads mingled 

 with the fertile plants. The pedicels and capsules are shorter 

 than in B. bimum. It is common under trees in open woods, and 

 on old walls, ranging throughout Europe and Asia, reaching 

 14,000 feet in the Himalayas. In North America also it is very 

 common, having been collected in nearly every State and through- 

 out British America. 



Bryiim captllare is so named for the thread-like points of the 

 leaves, which are wider than in bimum or caspilicium, spirally 

 twisted when dry, and less crowded on the stem. The plants are 

 usually dioicous, but here again Dixon ignores species based 

 solely on this character and unites with it B iorguescens, which 

 is usually synoicous, but known to be variable. Both species love 

 rich, loamy soil in woods, preferrmg hilly or mountainous regions, 

 and are oftenest found on rock ledges in the Alleghenies and 

 Rocky Mountains, ranging southward down the Andes. It forms 

 soft dark green tufts, fruits but seldom, and varies greatly in the 

 length of the costa, which may be either percurrent, excurrent, 

 or disappear below the apex, but is smooth. Sterile plants have 

 been collected in the Hemlock Grove in Bronx Park, and on the 

 Palisades Austin found the var flaccidum on wet, shady rocks. 

 It fruits in summer. 



Bryum argenteum may be taken as the type of the second 

 group of smaller species. It certainly is the most cosmopolitan, 

 found throughout Europe and Asia, ranging from sea-level to 

 12,000 feet in the Himalayas and the Andes, where it becomes 

 conspicuously white and is known as the var. lanatutn. It is 

 very common in the United States and Canada, in sandy soil and 

 waste places, and has been collected in several cities between the 

 paving stones and bricks, also on old roofs, walls, and door-mats. 

 It fruits abundantly, maturing during the fall and winter, but 

 keeping it almost throughout the year. It is also the most easily 

 recognized of any of the species, except // roseiim, by its silvery, 

 gray leaves, which, when old, are white and without chlorophyll 

 at apex, but when young are green and then liable to be mistaken 

 for some other species. The leaves are crowded on the stems, 

 overlapping each other, making the stems julaceous, and ending 

 in a slender bristle forming a brush of hairs at the tips of the 



