Jenn.ngs: Manual of Mosses — 24. Fontinalaceae 173 



angled, or round, much branched but bare below, fastened by a cushion of 

 rhizoids at the base; leaves 3- and 5-seriate, ovate-acute to lance-subulate, 

 carinate to concave or plane, mostly decurrent, rarely winged, entire or dentate 

 at apex; lamina uni-stratose above, bi- to tri-stratose below, with single costa 

 or none; median leaf-cells mostly elongate prosenchymatous, smooth, the basal 

 orange, laxer, rarely loosely rhombic hexagonal: seta rudimentary or normal: 

 capsule erect, non-collumate, without annulus, without stomata; peristome 

 none, single, or double, teeth when present 16, hygroscopic, as long as or 

 shorter than the segments; mostly linear, orange- to brown-pellucid, non-bor- 

 dered, mostly papillose, ventrally with projecting transverse trabeculae; inner 

 peristome without basal membrane, segments filiform, 16, usually more or less 

 united into a carinate, trellis-like cone, rarely free and appendiculate; lid short- 

 conic to rostrate; calyptra small and conic or cucullate and reaching to below 

 the capsule. 



A family of six genera, confined almost exclusively to the temperate and 

 colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere; two of the genera in our range. 



Key to the Genera 



A. Leaves ecostate; calyptra short 1. Fontinalit 



A. Leaves costate; calyptra enclosing the whole capsule 2. Dichelyma 



1. FoNTiNALis Linnaeus, Hedwig 

 Water Mosses 



Dioicous: floral branches apparently axillary, very leafy; antheridial clus- 

 ters short and obtusely gemmiform; archegonial branches elongate and acute: 

 slender to very robust: stems sharply 3-angled to round, much branched; leaves 

 of one form, 3-seriate, otherwise as for the family, ecostate; perichaetial leaves 

 larger, almost enclosing capsule, broadly obovate, obtuse, lacerate when old: 

 vaginule and seta rudimentary; capsule oval to ovate, mostly delicate; peristome 

 double, inner and outer of same length, teeth 16, linear-lanceolate, orange to 

 brownish, plane, papillose, mostly apically united in pairs, the divisural zigzag, 

 articulations prominent, the trabeculae projecting both ventrally and laterally; 

 segments 16, filiform, united by lateral processes into a plaited cone, rarely free 

 and appendiculate; spores irregular in size, mostly green, almost smooth; lid 

 conic, calyptra reaching but little below the operculum, the base lacerate 

 when old. 



A genus of about 60 species; about 30 reported for North America; at 

 least five occurring in our region. 



Most of the specimens of this genus in our collections have been verified 

 by Winona H. Welch. 



Key ro the Species 



A. Older stem-leaves carinate or keeled-conduplicate 1. F. antipyretica v.ir. gigantea 



A. Older stem-leaves not as above B 



B. Leaves essentially one form, not dimorphic - D 



B. Leaves dimorphic C 



C. Vernal leaves lance-ovate to siiborbicular, summer leaves narrowly lanceolate; apical 



cells reminding one of Sphagnum 2. F. biformis 



C Stem-leaves lance-ovate to lanceolate, branch leaves narrowly lanceolate, both acumi- 



