480 FISSIDENTACEAE. 



2. OCTOBLEPHARUM Hedw. Descr. 3: 15. 1791. 



Plants growing in loose or compact pale-green tufts, with dense branching 

 stems. Leaves crowded at the ends of the branches, usually concave with a 

 broader base and a narrow tapering apex, composed mostly of the broad thick 

 costa which contains a central row of small green triangular cells, and several 

 layers of hyaline cells above and below; the blade of the leaf is reduced to a 

 few narrow hyaline cells on the basal margins or lacking. Pedicel short; 

 capsule erect, symmetric, smooth; peristome single, of 8 or 16 lanceolate teeth; 

 lid beaked; ealyptra cucullate. [Greek, in reference to the 8 teeth.] Eighteen 

 species have been described, mostly from tropical regions, the following typical. 



1. Octoblepharum albidum (L.) Hedw. Descr. 3: 15. 1791. 

 Bryum albidum L. Sp. PI. 1118. 1753. 



Plants in loose, pale yellowish-green cushions; stems brittle; leaves irides- 

 cent, often broken and recurved when dry, up to 6 mm. long by 0.5 mm. wide; 

 tip flat, longer than the base, ending abruptly in a cuspidate apex. Autoicous. 

 Seta erect, 5-7 mm. long; capsule straight, smooth, 1-1.5 mm. long, narrowing 

 to the mouth; teeth 8, entire or perforate; lid beaked; spores rough. 



On rotten wood and stumps or on palmetto, common in coppices of New Provi- 

 dence [type locality], Andros, Cat Island, Eleuthera and Crooked Island: Florida 

 and the West Indies. Widely distributed in tropical regions of both hemispheres. 

 RAINBOW-MOSS. 



Family 2. FISSIDENTACEAE Bruch & Schimp. 

 FISSIDENS FAMILY. 



Small plants, usually growing in moist shady places, on earth or stones. 

 Stems erect or decumbent, simple or sparingly branched; leaves few, 

 always two-ranked and conduplicate, clasping at base, with a single vein 

 and with an apical and dorsal prolongation of the blade especially in the 

 upper leaves, except in Sorapilla. Pedicel terminal at apex of stems or on 

 lateral buds; capsule ovoid or cylindric, straight or curved; ealyptra 

 cucullate ; lid conic, often beaked, peristome red, single, of 16 entire or bifid 

 teeth, often thickened at joints and either papillose or spiral at apex. A 

 large family of 4 genera, containing some 570 species, abundant in tem- 

 perate and tropical regions. 



1. FTSSIDENS Hedw. Fund. 2: 91. 1782. 



Plants scattered or crowded into dense cushions. Stems becoming de- 

 cumbent when old, with apical or rarely lateral branches; leaves with duplicate 

 basal blades present, the apical and dorsal blades sometimes lafcking or reduced 

 in size in the lower leaves or in the bracts of the inflorescence; pedicels always 

 exserted, often bent or curved; capsules erect, inclined or rarely curved; walls 

 often thickened with collenchyma cells around the mouth, also the base of the 

 lid ; annulus small, often fugacious or lacking ; peristome deeply inserted ; teeth ' 

 bifid, usually bright red and forking, with long slender apical divisions, gen- 

 erally quite different from the basal segments of the teeth and often suddenly 

 bent at a sharp angle. [Latin, in reference to the split teeth.] A large genus 



