142 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



1. P. polyantha, Schimp. ; stem creeping; branches 

 crowded, arched above ; leaves turned upwards, secund, ovate, 

 strongly acuminate, nerveless or faintly two-nerved, entire ; 

 sporangium oblong ; lid conical, pointed. Hook, fy Wils. t. 

 xxxv.; Eng. Bot. t. 2871.; Grev. S.c. Crypt. Fl. t. 161.; 

 (Plate 12, fig. 5) ; Moug. Nest. n. 39. 



Ou trunks of trees. In the north and west of Great Bri- 

 tain. Bearing fruit in early autumn. 



Monoicous. Stems creeping, slightly divided; branches 

 pinnato-ramulose, erect, curved at the tips ; leaves densely 

 crowded, patent or subsecund and turned upwards, nerveless, 

 entire or slightly toothed, shining, ovato-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate; reticulation narrow, broad at the base; fruitstalk J an 

 inch long; sporangium elliptic-oblong, erect; lid conical, 

 apiculate ; peristome inserted below the mouth of the sporan- 

 gium, as in Tayloria ; inner peristome with very short or des- 

 titute of intermediate cilia. 



The peculiar insertion of the peristome is perhaps the 

 strongest generic character. 



17. HOMALOTHECITJM, Schimp. 



Sporangium symmetrical, erect ; peristome double, inner with 

 no intermediate cilia ; veil rather large, more or less pilose ; 

 leaf- cells very narrow. 



1. H. sericeum, Schimp.; stem creeping, branched; 

 branches distichous, erect, crowded ; leaves imbricated, erecto- 

 patent, plicate, ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, minutely toothed ; 

 nerve reaching nearly to the apex ; fruitstalk rough ; sporan- 

 gium erect, subcylindrical ; lid conical, acute. Hook, fy Wils. 

 t. xxv.; Eng. Bot. t. 1445.; (Plate 12, fig. 6) ; Moug. fy Nest. 

 n. 225. 



On trees, stone walls, etc. Very common. Fruit ripe in 

 winter and spring. 



