Jennings: Manual of Mosses — 4. Fissidentaceae 71 



cells, the border of the vaginant lamina edged be!ow with a row of rectangular 

 cells about two to tnree times as long as wide: seta erect, flexuous, about 4-9 

 mm long, yellowish to reddish, smooth, slender, terminal: capsule typically 

 erect and symmetric, sometimes inclined, usually reddish-yellow, smooth, 

 oblong-oval, about 7-8 mm long; peristome-teeth red, the upper two-thirds split 

 into two awl-like prongs with spiral thickenings, pellucid, papillose, the teeth 

 inserted below the mouth; spores smooth, small, about .010-.012 mm in 

 diameter; operculum conic-rostrate. Mature in late fall or winter. Antheridial 

 flowers gemmiform, axillary. 



Widely distributed in temperate regions on shaded soil, in our rejion 

 especially in and about greenhouses. Our specimens show considerable varia- 

 tion in the arrangement of the leaf-cells, either in rows or not so, and in the 

 capsule, the latter varying from erect and symmetric to arcuate. The spores in 

 our specimens are much smaller than is indicated in some descriptions. Most 

 of the specimens from our region have more or less unsymmetric or arcuate 

 capsules and belong to the following variety. 



Allegheny Co.: In flower-f>ots, Phipps Conservatory, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, 

 March 20, 1910. O.E.J, (figured). Elk Co.: James. (Porter's Catalogue). 



2a. Fissidens bryoides var. incurvus (Weber & Mohr) Hiibener 



(F. incurvus Schwaegrichen ) 



Typically this moss is about 2-6 mm high, with rather broadly oblong- 

 lanceolate leaves, which are obtuse-apiculate and narrowly bordered up to near 

 the apex: seta reddish, long, flexuous; capsule oval-cylindric, curved and 

 usually more or less inclined or cemuous; antheridial buds basal. 



On rocks, or more rarely clay, usually in shaded brooks and ravines, 

 America from Greenland to Vancouver Island to Texas. Europe, Asia, 

 Africa, New Zealand. 



Fayette Co.: On muddy rock in bed of mountain rivulet, Ohio Pyle, June 14, 1908. 

 O.E.J, and G.K.J. McKean Co.: Hunt's Run, April 28, 1893. D.A.B. 



3. Fissidens obtusifolius Wilson 



Plate XIV 



Small, densely gregarious, sometimes forming cushions, usually growing 

 at right angles to the substratum, pale green: stems comparatively stout, in our 

 specimens about 3-6 mm long, mostly simple; leaves of fertile plants about 4-8 

 pairs, of sterile shoots about 6-12 pairs, distichous, vertical, in fertile shoots 

 closely placed, the lower small, obovate to oblong, the upper much larger, 

 oblong, ascending to erect, obtuse, the clasping portion extending above the 

 middle, non-margined except for a few elongate cells at the end of the sheath- 

 ing portion, entire, the apical leaves reaching to 1.5 mm long by 0.3 mm v/ide; 

 cells rounded to quadrate-hexagonal above, a few at the margin of the base 

 rectangular (up to 4:1), at the apex of the sheath a few marginal cells elongate 

 to linear, all incrassate; costa strong, disappearing shortly below the apex, the 

 dorsal lamina becoming narrow or disappearing at the base: seta comparatively 

 stout, erect, or upcurving, in ours about 1.5-2.0 mm long, brownish, smooth; 



