298 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



ORDER XXXII. PHASCEI, Mont. 



Sporangium sessile or shortly pedunculate, with or without 

 a columella, indehiscerit without any trace of peristome ; lid 

 confluent with the walls of the sporangium ; veil mitriform or 

 cucullate. 



109. PLEURIDIUM, Brid. 



Sporangium on a short fruitstalk, lateral after innovation, 

 shortly apiculate ; veil cucullate ; leaf-cells above narrow- 

 linear, below oblong. 



1. P. nitidum, Br. fy Schimp.; stem delicate; leaves lan- 

 ceolate or linear-lanceolate, erecto-patent, obscurely toothed 

 above ; nerve rounded, vanishing below the apex ; sporangium 

 oval. Hook. Wils. t. v. ; Eng. Bot. t. 1030, 2093. ; Moug. 

 % Nest. n. 605.) 



In moist fields and soil of dried-up pools. Bearing fruit in 

 autumn and spring. 



Monoicous ; male flowers produced in the axils of the peri- 

 chsetial leaves, minute. Stems 1-6 lines long, producing in- 

 novations frequently below the fruit, and thus bearing two or 

 three crops of fruit in the same year ; leaf-cells quite different 

 from those of the last genus ; spores nearly of the same size 

 and colour, but not so globose. Varying with a shorter stem, 

 narrower leaves, and roundish sporangium. 



2. P. subulatum, Schimp. ; leaves lanceolate, erecto-patent 

 or subsecund ; perichsetial leaves lanceolato-subulate ; nerve 

 rather broad, ceasing near the tip; sporangium immersed, 

 roundish, ovate. Hook. $ Wils. t. v. ; Eng. Bot. t. 2177. ; 

 (Moug. % Nest. n. 112.) 



On the ground, in fields, etc. Common. Bearing fruit 

 in spring. 



Monoicous ; yellow or dull-green, mostly simple. Nerve 



