Foljitrich am. MUSCI. 4()o 



Var. brevifolium, Schimp. Stem erect, with short densely crowded yellowish 

 green leaves, and small globose or obovate-globose capsule. — Polytrichtmi brevifolium, 

 K. Br. in Parry's Voy. Appx. Suppl. 294. 



On Mount Dana, the variety, Bolandcr. The species occurs in the White Mountaitis and in 

 alpine regions of Europe and northern Asia. 



2. P. contortum, Lesq. Clustered or loosely cespitose, glaucous-green, brown 

 beneath ; stems 1 to 6 inches high, rooting at base, erect, simple or innovating 

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

 when dry, acutely serrate the whole length, sparingly spinulose near the apex on the 

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

 cernuous, ovate-cylindric, contracted toward the mouth when dry ; operculum long- 

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

 trichum contortam, Menzies, Trans. Linn. Soc. iv. 78, t. 7,iig. 2 ; Schwaegr. Suppl. 

 i. 325, t. 96. P. dentatum, Lesq. 1. c, not Menz. 



On clay banks in the dense shade of redwoods near Crescent City {Brewer) ; Oregon {Hall) ; 

 Rocky Mountains {Parry) ; also by Menzies. 



42. POLYTRICHUM, Dill. 



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

 the stem, erect or ascending ; stems erect, rarely dichotomous, triangular, purple, 

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

 and calyptra as in Pogonatum, the lower leaves scale-like, the upper elongated and 

 sheathing. Capsule mostly cernuous, horizontal when dry, long-])edicelled, oblong- 

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

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



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



L P. piliferum, Schreb. Loosely cespitose; stems rarely an inch high, rigid, 

 simple, 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 

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

 Engl. Bot. t. 1199 ; Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 153 ; Bruch & Schimp. Bryol. Eur. t. 422; 

 Wilson, Bryol. Brit. t. 10 ; Sulliv. & Lesq. Muse. Am.-Bor. Exsicc. 2 ed. n. 326. 

 P. IcevipiUm, Hampe, Linnsea, xxx. 459, with smooth awn. 



Rocky places above Sonora {Bigelow) ; on Monte Diablo {Bolander) ; Lassen's Peak {Brewer) ; 

 Vancouver Island {Li/aU) ; Uinta Mountains ( Watson) ; fiora Arctic America to the northern 

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

 in the length and roughness of the aw-n. 



2. P. juniperinum, Hedw. Stems 1 to 6 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 quadrangular, reddish orange, at length 

 brown ; otherwise like the last. — Spec. t. 18 ; Engl. Bot. t. 1200 ; Bruch Sc Schimp. 

 1. c, t. 423; Wilson, 1. c. ; Berkeley, Brit. JNIoss. t. 19, iig. 6. 



Apparently common ; Cajon Pass {Bigelmv) ; Mount Brewer {Brewer) ; Yosemite Valley and 

 plains around Mendocino {Bolander) ; in Washington Territory, Utah, and Colorado, and from 

 Arctic America to the Atlantic States. Very widely distributed. 



P. COMMUNE, Linn., has been collected in Oregon {Hal!) ■ a tall species (6 to 12 inches high), 

 with flat spreading or recurved leaves serrate on the margins and back, and an oblong acutejy 

 quadrangular reddish-brown capsule, with abruptly apicuhite operculum. — Engl. Bot. t. 1197 ; 

 Bruch & Schimp. 1. c, t. 425 ; Wilson, 1. c. ; Sulliv. in Gray's Man. 2 ed. t. 3. Atlantic btetes, 

 Europe and Asia ; in swampy ground. 



P. FORMOSUM, Hedw., a sinular species of Europe and the Atlantic States, also found by Hall in 

 Oregon, may be known by its soft yellowish longer usually 6-angled capsule with less distinct apophy- 

 sis and conical oi)erculuui. —Spec. t. 19 ; Bruch k Schhnp. 1. c, t. 420 ; Wilson, 1. c, t. 46. 



