320 Alexander W. Evans, 



absent altogether or very rudimentary. Odontolejeimea is further 

 distinguished by the occurrence of speciahzed caducous branches, 

 which multiply the plants vegetatively ; in Dicranolejeunea no method 

 of vegetative reproduction has been observed. Of course the species 

 of Dicranolejeunea in which secondary stems arise from a prostrate 

 primary stem differ markedly in habit from all the species ol Odonto- 

 lejeimea, in which the plants always cling closely to the substratum, 

 but they differ in the same way from the species of Dicranolejeunea 

 in which a prostrate habit is retained through life. 



Two species of Dicranolejeunea occur in the present collection. 

 One is the type of the genus, D. axillaris (Nees & Mont.) Schiffn.; 

 the other is apparently und escribed. 



22. Dicranolejeunea axillaris (Nees & Mont.) Schiffn. 



Lejeunea axillaris Nees & Mont. Ann. des Sc. Nat. Bot. II. 5: 59. 

 1836. 



Lejeunea [Dicrano-Lejeunea) axillaris Spruce, Hep. Amaz. et And. 

 139. 1884. 



Dicranolejeunea axillaris Schiffn.; Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflanzen- 

 fam. 13 : 128. 1895. 



San Miguel, 5,000-6,000 feet, July 24, 1911; a few fragments 

 only, mixed with Plagiochila chinantlana. 



This common and variable species was originally described from 

 BoHvian specimens collected by d'Orbigny. Its known range extends 

 from the West Indies and Mexico, through Central America and the 

 Andes, into Chile. It has been recorded also from the Galapagos 

 Islands. Since the published descriptions are not altogether in 

 accord, even on essential points, a full account of the plant will 

 perhaps be useful. 



According to Spruce^ the leaves are contiguous to subimbricated, 

 the apex of the lobe bears three or more sharp teeth, the margin of 

 the lobule is unidentate, the leaf-cells are thickened at the angles 

 (and rarely in between), the inflorescence is paroicous, and the post- 

 ical surface of the perianth is either smooth or else bears one or 

 two ciha near the apex. According to Stephani ^ the leaves are im- 

 bricated, the apex of the lobe is broadly acuminate-acute and a few- 

 teeth are borne below the apex, the lobule is obhquely truncate at 

 the apex with an acute angle, the leaf-cells have no trigones, the in- 

 florescence is monoicous, the small androecia, sessile on the stem, 



1 Hep. Amaz. et And. 139. 



2 Sp. Hep. 6 : 164. 1912. 



