97 



NOTES ON CALIFOENIAN BBTOPHYTES.— 1 



By MAKSHAiiii A. Howe. 



Fissidens paupercnlus, sp. nov. Dioicous; minute, loosely 



gregarious, flavescent; stems decumbent or ascending, 1^ — 3 

 mm. long in fertile plants; leaves 3 — 5 pairs, increasing in size 

 upward, lowest minute, tlie upper oblong to obliquely spatu- 

 late-oblong, acute or shortly acuminate, margin slightly ser- 

 rulate-crenulate; border none; costa stout, vanishing below 



the apex; vaginant laminse i to i length of leaf, unequal; 



inferior lamina ending at about the middle of the vaginant 

 laminae in upper leaves or reaching the base in the lower; 

 cells of vertical lamina mostly hexagonal, smaller and oval at 

 the margin, enlarged and oblong-rectangular next to the 

 costa, 9 — 16xl6-48jw, those of vaginant laminse becoming 

 longer and narrower toward the base; fruit terminal; seta 

 flexuous, pale yellow, 3 — 5 mm. long:; capsule yellowish, oval 

 or oval-oblong, inclined or cernuous, slightly arcuate when 

 dry; operculum conic-rostellate, about equaling capsule; 

 calyptra cucullate, descending to base of operculum or a 

 little below; peristome red, normal; annulus pale, of two or 

 three rows of small cells, deciduous; spores 10 — 14//. Male 

 plant minute, ^ — 1 mm, high, with 2 — 3 pairs of leaves; vag- 

 inant laminse of perigonial leaves dentate. 



Collected by the author in Mill Valley, Marin Co., Calif., 

 March 29, 1893. It grows on moist banks in company with 

 Fisside^is linihatus^ Salliv. 



The plant is near the European Fissidens exilis^ Hedw., 

 from which it differs in the inclined or cernuous capsule, the 

 vanishing costa, dioicous inflorescence, etc. Its nearest 

 North American ally is possiby F. Donnellii, Austin, of 

 Florida, from which it may be easily distinguished by its 

 flavescent and almost hyaline leaves, much longer seta, 

 larger and smooth leaf-cells, and other characters. 



Fridlania Asagrayana^ Mont, in Annal. des Sci. Nat., 

 Series II., torn. 18, pp. 13 and 14, footnote. 



On page 67 of Prof. L. M. Underwood's '^ Descriptive Cata- 



