BY L. ROD WAY. 109 



RHACOMITRIUM SYMPIIYODON, Mitt. 



Forming loose dingy tufts; stems slender, 3-6 cm., 

 yellowish-green, darker at the base. Leaves widely spread- 

 ing when moist, closely imbricate when dry, lanceolate, 

 acute with a short, slender, hyaline cuspidate tip, 2-5 m.m., 

 surface very obtusely papillose; margin closely revolute ; 

 nerve slender, canaliculate, continuous ; lower cells linear, 

 with coarsely sinuous walls, upper ones short, quadrate, 

 with one or two constrictions, more incrassate than in R. 

 heterostichum. Seta on a short lateral branch, 5 m.m. ; 

 capsule erect, narrow, oblong, 1.7 m.m. ; lid with a slender 

 rostrum half as long as the capsule ; calyptra short, deep- 

 ly divided, with a slightly rough apex; peristome teeth 

 split nearly to the base into two slender closely tomentose 

 legs. 



Mt. Wellington slopes, on rock. 



RHACOMITRIUM HETEROSTICHUM, Hedw. 



Widely spreading in loose decumbent dark mats, stems 

 long. With many short, lateral branches, but in depauper- 

 ated plants from dry, elevated situations very short, with 

 branches all of equal length. Leaves squarrose, not much 

 imbricate when dry, lanceolate from an ovate base, acute 

 with a colourless cuspidate hair point; margin revolute 

 below, usually irregularly serrulate above, 2 m.m. ; nerve 

 thick, vanishing at or below the hyaline apex ; lower cells 

 narrow, linear, with fine sinuous walls, upper ones shorter, 

 nearly quadrate. Seta 5 m.m. on short lateral branches; 

 capsule narrow or medium oblong, 2 m.m. ; lid rostrate 

 half as long as the capsule; calyptra short, rather rough 

 at the apex ; peristome teeth in most instances very 

 short, sometimes longer, split half way or. when the teeth 

 are longer, nearly to the base into two slender tomentose 

 legs. 



Very common on rocks on hills. 



RHACOMITRIUM HYPNOIDES (L.), Lindb. 

 Syn. : R. lanuginosum, Brid. 



In dense mats, dark, with copious white leaf tips. 

 Leaves patent lanceolate, base narrow, tapering to a long, 

 straight, colourless, hair point, the coloured portion about 

 3 m.m., the colourless part extending some distance down 



