FISSIDENTACE^E.] 68 [Fissidens. 



2. FISSIDENS PUSILLTJS Wils. 



Dioicous; very small; leaves 3 5 pairs, narrowly lanceolate, 

 acuminate, entire with a very narrow border, nerved to apex ; capsule 

 oval-cylindric, erect or inclined, lid conic, obliquely rostellate. (T. X, B.) 



SYN. Fissidens pusillus Wils. MSS. MILDE Bry. Siles. 82 (1869). SCHIMP. Syn. 2 ed. 113 



(1876). HOBK. Syn. Br. m. 136 (1873). 

 F. viridulus var. ft. pusillus WILS. Bry. Brit. 303 (1855). 

 F. incurvus var. pusillus SCHIMP. Syn. 104 (1860). HUSN. Mouss. nord-ouest 62 (1873). 



Heteroicous (dioicous and rarely autoicous) ; very small, simple or 

 branched at base. Stem short, inclined ; leaves pale green, 3 4-jugous, 

 upper pair long, linear-ensiform, the rest shorter oblongo -lanceolate, 

 the apex acuminate, margin quite entire, with a very narrow border 

 vanishing below the apiculus, nerve lost at the point ; vag. lam. not 

 reaching middle of leaf, inf. lam. semi-lanceolate, rapidly narrowing at 

 base and lost before reaching the stem ; cells oval or rounded. Capsule 

 on a pale seta, leptodermous, very small, erect or inclined, ovali-cylindric, 

 strongly contracted below the mouth when dry; lid conic, somewhat 

 obliquely rostellate ; peristome deep red, arising below the orifice, teeth 

 deeply cleft, the legs subulate, filiform, rough. Male plant minute, 

 simple or with i 2 branches, the bracts sheathing, with a short lamina ; 

 very rarely a male ramulus arises at base of fertile stem. 

 HAB. Wet sandstone rocks. Fr. 8 n. 



Hill cliff dingle and Winwick stone delph, Warrington (Wilson 1844) !! Todmorden 

 (Nowcll 1852). Mowthorpe dale and about Castle Howard (Spruce) ! ! Pope's walk, 

 Bath (Mrs. Hopkins). Albourne (Mitten). Near Heptonstall and Pontefract (Dr. 

 Wood) 1 Ashley Mill, Bowdon and Clitheroe (Hunt) ! ! Gordale, Malham (Hunt 

 1867) ! Lover's Leap, Buxton (Hunt 1860) ! ! Dailly (Hunt 1865). Seckley (Dr. 

 Frazcr 1868) ! Levens Park (Barnes 1871) ! Trungle moor, Penzance (Curnow 1860). 

 Ecclesbourne (Holmes 1876) ! ! 



Next to F. exilis the smallest of our species, and forming delicate green 

 patches on the surface of the sandstone, to which it clings closely by the 

 radicular tomentum. For some excellent remarks on this species see Dr. 

 Spruce's paper in Journ. Bot. 1880, p. 360. 



Var. /?. Lylei Wils. 



Leaves broader, without any border. 



SYN. Fiss. Lylei WILS. MSS. F. viridulus var. . Lylei WILS. Bry. Brit. 304. 



HAB. Dam head at Airth (Lyle 1849) ! Ashley Mills and Marple, Cheshire (Hunt 1868) ! ! 



Allesley, Warwick (Bagnall) ! ! Gilbrook (Marratt). King's Caple, Hereford (Rev. 



A. Ley). 



Var. y. madidus Spruce. 



Leaves 5-jugous, longer and narrower. Capsule subcylindric, the 

 lid obliquely rostrate, sometimes as long as capsule. Infloresc. most 

 frequently autoicous, the male on a basal branch ; sometimes dioicous. 

 (SPRUCE in Journ. Bot. 1880, p. 361). 



