Jennings: Manual oi Mosses — 34. Brachythfciaceae 293 



Ranging from Newfoundland, New England and the Adirondacks to New 

 Jersey and Pennsylvania, and occurring also in British Columbia. 



Rare in our region. Allegheny Co.: Guyasuta Hollow on clay and stones, Octo- 

 ber 12, 1908. O.E.J. Erie Co.: On log in hemlock woods. Presque Isle. Nelle Am- 

 mons. McKean Co.: Bennett Brook, May 3, 1893. D.A.B. (figured). 



5. Brachythecium ACUTUM (Mitten) Sullivant 

 (Hypnum acntum Mitten ) 



Loosely ccspitose, bright glossy green: stems long, fle.xuous, creeping, basal- 

 ly radiculose, sparsely branched; branchlets short, sometimes reflexed; leaves 

 loose, open-spreading, more imbricate when dry, lanceolate to lance-ovate, ncn- 

 striate, slightly decurrent, plane-margined, scarcely concave, obscurely serru- 

 late or almost entire, short auriculate at base, the margins tapering gradually 

 and almost in a straight line from base to apex; median leaf-cells linear-vermic- 

 ular, about 10:1, the basal lax, the alar sub-quadrate, small, numerous and 

 extending down to form a rather strong decurrent portion; costa reaching to 

 somewhat above the middle; stem-leaves wider, triangular-ovate, reaching 2.5 x 

 1 mm, long and slenderly acuminate: seta smooth, about 1.5-2.5 cm long, 

 flexuous; capsule ovoid-oblong, dorsally turgid, inclined to horizontal, usually 

 slightly arcuate, about 2-3:1; annulus narrow; peristome hypnoid, the cilia 2 

 or 3, strongly nodose to sub-appendiculate; lid conic-acuminate; spores mature 

 in late fall or winter. 



In moist woods on rotten logs and earth; Canada and the northern United 

 States, south to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. 



Rare in our region. McKean Co.: D.A.B. (Porter's Catalogue). 

 6. Brachythecium rutabulum [Linnaeus] Bryologia Europaea 



{Hypnum rittabulitm Linnaeus ) 

 Plate LV 



Widely and loosely cespitose. yellowish-green, glossy: stems prostrate, 

 creeping, often stolonifeious at the end, the branchlets more or less erect and 

 attenuate; stem-leaves large, cordate-ovate to more or less deltoid, or narrower 

 and lance-ovate, the wider ones abruptlv and rather shortly acuminate, the 

 narrower ones slenderly acuminate, the leaves varying in size up to 2.5 x 0.7- 

 1.5 mm, decurrent; the branch-leaves ovate to lance-ovate, about 1.7-2.0x0.6- 

 1.0 mm., concave, decurrent, the margin slightly serrulate all around, when 

 dry more or less reflexed at base and the leaves then somewhat plicate; costa 

 thin, reaching to the middle or beyond; median leaf-cells acutely elongate- 

 rhomboid or linear-rhomboid, usually about 10-20:1, the apical som.ewhat 

 shorter, the basal shorter and wider, incrassate especiallv in the stem-leaves, 

 the alar similar, except that a few are more enlarged, inflated, and oblong- 

 quadrate, but scarcely forming distinct auricles; perichaetial leaves up to 2.5 

 mm long, slenderly acuminate: seta 2-3 cm long, rough throughout, drving 

 flattened and twisted, castaneous, sinistrorse except sometimes at the very apex; 

 capsule about 2-3 x 1 mm, oval-oblong to sub-cylindric, unsymmetric, inclined 



