﻿Fabroleskea, a new Genus of Mosses.* 



By G. N. Best. 



Small plants in intricate spreading, pale to dark green tufts. 

 Stems undulate creeping, irregularly divided and sparingly 

 branched ; stem leaves spreading-recurved, ovate-lanceolate, 

 narrowly acuminate ; costa thin, narrow, disappearing above the 

 middle ; leaf cells stoutly unipapillate on both surfaces ; capsule 

 erect, symmetric ; pseudannulus of seven rows of oblong-oval, 

 compressed, yellowish cells ; peristome of sixteen yellowish 

 lanceolate obtuse teeth, deeply inserted and densely covered with 

 stiped papillae ; dorsal line faint ; ventral face scarcely lamellate ; 

 endostome a narrow band without segments or cilia ; operculum 

 •short conic ; calyptra tubular (?). 



One species. 



Fabroleskea Austini (Sulliv.) Best. 



Leskca Austini Sulliv. Icon. Muse. Si. pi. 6r. 1874. 



Stems 2-3 cm. long, attached to substratum here and there 

 by tufts of yellowish rhizoids ; stem leaves concave, entire or sinu- 

 ate-serrulate above, .7-1.2 mm. long, 3. 5 — . 5 wide; leaf cells in 

 rows, somewhat oblique, thick -walled, nearly uniform, basal and 

 alar broadly oval to oval-quadrate ; median elliptical-rhombic to 

 rhomboidal-fusiform, .009-.011 mm. wide, .013-016 long; 

 apical linear-rhomboidal, monoicous ; perichetial bracts oblong- 

 lanceolate, slenderly acuminate, scarcely costate, margins sinuate- 

 dentate. ; pedicels erect, smooth, yellow-red, twisted above to the 

 right when dry, 7-9 mm. long ; capsule narrow-mouthed, brown- 

 ish, oval-oblong, 1.5 mm. long, 0.6 wide, with 4-6 stomata at its 

 base ; pseudannulus separating between the second and third rows 

 of cells from above; teeth .185 mm. long, .035 wide, confluent at 

 base ; endostome yellow, papillate, of 4 rows of oblong -rectangular 

 cells .055 mm. broad ; exothecial cell multiform, walls more or less 

 curved, seldom straight; spores minutely roughened, .019-026 

 mm. 



Matures in late winter and early spring on trunks, rocks and 



limestone fences. 



Widely distributed, yet local and variable. Illinois (Wolf) ; 



* Based on specimens in the herbarium of Columbia University. 



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