6.54 MDSCI. (mosses.) 



Div. II. Plem'OCjiirj»i. 



Fruit lateral on the stem or branches. (Peristome mostly double.) 



Tribe XXIV. FONTINALEiE. 



50. FONTINAL.IS, Dill. Fountain-Moss. (Tab. 18.) 



Calyptra small, conic, crenate or somewhat lacerate at the base. Operculum 

 conic. Capsule ovate, oval, or cylindrical, subsessile. Peristome double ; the 

 exterior 16 linear-lanceolate teeth cohering at their apices in pairs ; the interior 

 16 cilia connected by cross-bars, forming a more or less complete tessellated cone. 

 Inflorescence dioecious. — Large Mosses, floating in water, and rooting at their 

 base only ; leaves 3-rankcd, ecostate, with a minute linear areolation ; capsule 

 immersed in the perichsetial leaves, and terminal on short, lateral, supra-axillary 

 branches. (Name from fontinalis, a fountain, in allusion to its place of growth.) 



1. F. aBafipyavSica, L. Stems 8' -12' long, very much divided, flex- 

 ile ; leaves broadly ovate-acuminate, complicate-carinate, the margin on one side 

 reflexed ; perichsetial leaves oblong, obtuse, eroded at the apex, closely embra- 

 cing the oval capsule ; inner peristome a complete tessellated cone. — Mountain 

 rivulets, New England. — Variable in size and color. (Tab. 18.) (Eu.) 



2. F. squamosa, L. ! Smaller than No. 1 ; ramification more fascicu- 

 late; leaves concave, not complicate-carinate. — Mountain streams, Southern 

 States : without fruit. — Perhaps a different species. (Eu.) 



3. F. l>i£7Lrmis, ;i Iliv. Leaves of two forms, those appearing in the 

 spring large, broad, ovate-lanceolate, concave, flaccid, disappearing in the sum- 

 mer, and succeeded by others much smaller, narrowly linear-lanceolate, convo- 

 lute, and clothing new branches ; both kinds denticulate at the apex, their basal 

 angles auriculate, and composed of large oblong pellucid cellules; capsule oval 

 or oblong-cylindrical; perichsetial leaves as in No. 1 ; operculum more elongat- 

 ed ; teeth of the exterior peristome with 18-20 articulations; cilia of the inte- 

 rior peristome connected at their tips only by a few cross-bars, elsewhere appen- 

 diculate. (F. disticha, var. Muse. AUerjhan., No. 191, and Pilotrichum sphagni- 

 folium, Midi. Synop. 2. p. 150, are the spring state of the plant; F. disticha, var 

 Muse. Alleghan., No. 192, and Pilotrichum distichum, Mull. I. c. are the sum- 

 mer state.) — Woodland rivulets, near Columbus, Ohio : New Haven, Conn., D. 

 E. Eaton. — Fruit rare : male flowers terminal on short club-shaped brandies. 



4. F. <l£Stsclaa, Hook. & Wils. (in Drum. S. Mosses, No. 151.) A stiff, 

 elastic species, much more slender than any of the preceding ; stems reddish ; 

 branches short and widely spreading ; leaves erect-patent or rather apprcssed, 

 linear-lanceolate, convolute, attenuated, dentate at the extreme point ; capsule 

 cylindrical, its length 5 times its diameter; operculum narrowly conic, one third 

 as long as the capsule ; teeth of the peristome more or less cleft along the me- 

 dial line between the 12-15 articulations ; cilia granulated and connected as in 

 No. 3. — Rivulets near Mobile, Alabama. 



5. F. I^esciirii, Sulliv. (Muse. Bor.-Amer., No. 228.) Near the last, 

 but a soft, flaccid, and somewhat larger species; leaves broader, shorter, not 



