i:,hilruh»m. MUSCI. 403 



Vur. brevifolium, Schiuil). Stem erect,, with short densely cruwiled yellowisli 

 yreeii leaves, iiiid siii;ill glohose or oboviite-ylobose ciii)sule. — Poli/trichnm brevifolium, 

 II. V)V. ill Parry's Voy. Appx. Supi)!. 294. 



Oil Mount Dana, tlie variety, Biihanlcr. The species occurs in the White Mountains and in 

 ali)ine regions of Kurope ami northern Asia. 



2. P. contortum, Les(|. Clustered or loosely cespitose, glaucous-green, brown 

 beneath ; stems I to G inches liigh, rooting at base, erect, simple or innovating 

 above, loosely leafy : leaves linear-lanceolate, not slieathing, erect-spreading, twisted 

 when dry, acMitely serrate^ the whole ItMigth, .'jpnringly .<<|)inulo.so near the ape.x; on the 

 back of the costa ; lanielke narrow, not thickened on the margin : capsule somewhat 

 ceriiuous, ovate-cylindric, contracted toward the mouth when dry ; operculum lo)ig- 

 rostellate. — Mem. Calif. Acad. i. 27 ; Sulliv. Icon. Muse. Suppl. 58, t. 42. Poly- 

 trichnm contortum, Menzies, Trans. Linn. .Soc. iv. 78, t. 7, lig. 2 ; Schwaegr. Su[)pl. 

 i. 325, t. 9G. P. dentalam, Lescj. I. c, not Meiiz. 



On day banks in tlie (h'lise sliadc of redwoods near Crescent City (Brewer) ; Oregon {Hall) ; 

 Rocky Mountains (Parri/) ; also by Mcnzica. 



42. POLYTRICHUM, Dill. 



Stout showy perennials, on the ground, innovations riiizome-like from the base of 

 the stem, erect or ascending ; steins erect, rarely dichotoraous, triangular, purple, 

 woody, tlie fertile proliferous from the centre of the discoid male flower. Leaves 

 and calyptra as in Por/onatiim, the lower leaves scale-like, the upper elongated and 

 sheathing. Capsule mostly cernuous, horizontal when drj', long-jiedicelled, oblong- 

 or ovate-prismatic, 4- (rarely 6-) sided, with a discoid or subglobose apophysis sepa- 

 rated from the capsule; by a stomatose band. IVristome the same; teeth usually 64. 



Of tlie dozen or more species seven are Euioiican, of which five are found in North America. 



1. P. piliferum, Schreb. T>oosely cespitose ; stems rarely an inch high, rigid, 

 siiii|tl(', densely leafy at the summit : leaves glaucous-green and brownish, suberect, 

 imbricated, long-lanceolate from an ovate sheathing base, with incurved entire mar- 

 gins and tipped with a long slender white more or less roughened awn : capsule 

 tetragonid-ovate, pale chestnut-color, with depressed short-beaked operculum. — 

 Engl. r.ot. t. lli)9 ; Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 153 ; Uruch i^ Schimp. P.ryol. Eur. t. 422; 

 "Wilson, P.ryol. Brit. t. 10 ; Sulliv. k Lesij. Muse. Am.-l>or. I'Asicc. 2 cd. n. 32(i. 

 P. hevipilian, Hampe, Liniuva, xx.x. 459, with smooth awn. 



Rocky places above Sononi (Bitjcloir) ; on Monte Diablo (Bolondrr) ; Lassen's Peak (Brewer) ; 

 Vancouver Island (Li/n/I) ; Uinta Mountains ( /J'^'^w/f) ; fioin Arctic America to the northern 

 Atlantic States, and widely distriltuted over the globe, usually in dry and sterile places. Variable 

 in the length and roughness of the awn. 



2. P. juniperinum, Iledw. Stems 1 to inches high, rarely 2- or 3-parted 

 above : leaves spreading or recurved when damp, with a short reddish awn, the 

 costa rough on the back : capsule acutely cpiadrangular, reddish orange, at length 

 brown ; otherwise like the last. —Spec. t."^18 ; Engl. P.ot. t. 1200 ; Pruch c^^ Schimp. 

 1. c, t. 423; Wilson, 1. c. ; Berkeley, Brit. Moss. t. 19, lig. G. 



Apparently eoniinoii ; Cajon Pass (BifjeJnw) ; Mount lirewer (Brewer) ; Vosemite Valley and 

 I>lains aroniid Mendocino (Bolander) ; in Washington Tenitoiy, I'tah, and Colorado, and from 

 Arctic America to the Atlantic States. Very widely distributed. 



P. coMMii.\-K, Linn., has been collected in Oregon (Hall) ; a tall species (6 to 12 inches high), 

 with flat spreading or recurved leaves senate on tiie margins and back, and an oblong acutely 

 (piadrangular reddish-brown capsule, with abruptly apiculate operculum. — Engl. Bot. t. 1197; 

 Bruch & Schimp. 1. c, t. 425; Wilson, 1. c ; Sulliv. in day's Man. 2 ed. t. ;?. Atlantic States, 

 Europe and Asia ; in swampy ground. 



P. FORMOSUM, Medw., a similar sju'cies of Europe and the Atlantic States, also found by Hall in 

 Oregon, maybe known by its soft yellowish longer usually ()-angled capsule with less distinct apophy- 

 sis and conical operculuni. —Spec. t. 1!» : IJiuch &: Schhnp. 1. c, t. 420 ; Wilson, 1. c, t. 46. 



