Trichostomum. MUSCI. ^Q^ 



13. TRICHOSTOMUM, Smith. 

 Densely cespitoso perennials, on the grnuinl or rocks, fastigiately branclicd. 

 Leaves in several ranks, larger and more crowded above, dull and pajnllose, costate, 

 linear or lanceolate and mostly acuminate ; areolation minute and hexagonal-quadrate 

 above, looser and hyaline at base. Inllorescence dioecious or monoecious, terminal 

 and bud-like. Calyptra cucullate, smooth. Capsule erect (in our species), long- 

 pedicelled ; operculum rostrate. Peristome single, of IG teeth upon a narrow basal 

 membrane, often imperfectly developed, e(iually 2-cleft to the base, but the filiform 

 divisions rarely wholly free, erect when dry or sometimes more or less twisted to the 

 right. 



A genus variously limited ; according to Sfliimper's definition embracing 17 European species, 

 of which only the following are known to occur in North America. 



1. T. tophaceum, Bridel. Stem erect and fastigiately branched, | to 1 inch 

 high : leaves spreading, deep green, soft, the upper gradually enlarged, linear-lance- 

 olate from an ovate base, obtuse or sometimes acute, minutely verrucose, the mar- 

 gins revolute, and costa ceasing below tlie apex : inllorescence dioecious : capsule 

 upon a rather short reddish pedicel, ovate to oblong, reddish brown ; operculum 

 obliquely beaked ; annulus none : teeth very variable, unequal and sometimes 

 imperfect, the divisions somewhat coherent, pale or reddish. — Bruch &, Schimp. 

 Bryol. Eur. t. 1 75 ; Wilson, Bryol. Brit. t. 20 ; Sulliv. & Lesq. j\Iusc. Am.-Bor. 

 Exsicc. 2 ed. n. 151. 



In Cajon Pass (Bigcloic) ; at Fort Point, and on wet limestone rocks near Ukiah City {Bolander) ; 

 European. 



2. T. crispulum, Bruch. Densely cespitose, slender : leaves much larger 

 above, linear, twisted and involute when dry, very minutely papillose, mucronate 

 with the shortly excurrent costa : flowers dioecious : capsule ovate or elliptic, irregu- 

 larly sulcato when dry; annulus simple; operculum long-beaked: teetli unequally 

 divided. — Regensb. Flora, xii, t. 4 ; Brucli it Schimp. 1. c, t. 173. 



Guadalupe Island (Palmer); Europe. 



3. T. anomalum, Schimp. Stems loosely tufted, ^ to 2 inches high : leaves 

 tufted and much larger above, linear, serrate at the ajiex, firm, somewhat twisted 

 and incurved when dry : indoresccnco moncccious, the male Mowers solitary or clus- 

 tered on short branchlets, with G to 9 perigonial leaves : capstdo on a long ilexuous 

 reddisli pedicel, long-cylindric : peristome U]ion a narrow rusty basal membrane, 

 the long red-purple teeth twisted 2 or 3 times to the right. — Barhula anomala, 

 Bruch & Schinq). I.e., t. 1G9. T. corniculadim, Schwuegr. Suppl. ii. 75, t. 118; 

 Sulliv. in Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 185. 



Collected near San Francisco (Bigdoxn), and in Oakland Canon (Bolnndcr) ; also by Coulter, 

 but locality uncertain, and on Vancouver Island by Lyall. 



4. T. flexipes, Bruch & Schinqj. Stems 2 or 3 linos high, branclnng : leaves 

 much larger above, linear, acuminate, serrate at the apex, with a white shining 

 costa : inllorescence dioecious : capsule upon a straight or strongly Ilexuous pedicel, 

 narrowly oblong, with a broad annulus : teeth of the peristome strict. — Bryol. 

 Eur. t. 171. 7'. crasshiei-ve, Ilampe, Linn;va, xxx. 45G. 



Common on shaded ground and decaying trunks, from San Francisco to Mendocino County, 

 Biijelow, Bauer, Bolander. Also European. 



T. CoLOKAHENSE, Austin, Coult. Bot. Oazette, ii. 90, is based upon specimens from Yosemite 

 Valley without fruit, and the genus therefore unileterminable. The specific name is moreover a 

 misnomer, as the jiiaiit is not known from Colorado. It is described as 2 or 3 lines high, with 

 long-linear convolute leaves, with Hat margins and incurved above, and a short remarkably slen- 

 der costa. 



