Fam. 20. PTERYGOPHYLLACEyE. 



Plants soft, irregularly branched, with few ramuli ; stem procumbent, 

 depressed or ascending, dichotomous, pinnate or nearly simple. Leaves 

 often compressed, narrow and patent on all sides, or broader, ovate, 

 roundish or Ungulate, complanate or laxly imbricated, in 5, 8 or 10 rows, 

 one central, two intermediate, and two lateral on each side of stem ; the 

 leaves of the central row on each side smaller, straight and appressed 

 to stem, those of intermediate rows rather larger and oblique, and of the 

 lateral rows patent, broader and often diversiform ; cells lax, hexagonal 

 or rounded. Capsule erect, inclined or pendulous ; lid subulate ; teeth 

 of peristome furrowed or cleft in the central line ; processes imperforate, 

 without cilia ; calyptra conic or mitriform, smooth, papillose, hairy or with 

 small scales ; the margin entire, many-lobed or ciliate. 



A family of beautiful mosses, comprising about 500 species, especially abounding 

 in the wooded valleys that descend from the Andes and in the islands of the 

 W. Indies. 



i. PTERYGOPHYLLUM Bridel. 



Mantissa muse. 149 (1819). 



Stem procumbent or suberect, with irregular complanate branches. 

 Leaves in 8 or 10 rows, divergent and appressed, complanate, ovate or 

 lanceolate ; cells rhomboid or hexagonal. Capsule ovate or elliptic ; lid 

 rostrate ; calyptra campanulate-subulate, entire or lobulate at base ; peri- 

 stome as in Hypnum, without cilia. Der. -rrrepv^ a wing, <j)v\\ov a leaf. 



Salisbury published in his Paradisus Londinensis his genus Hookera, named 

 to commemorate the artist who did the plates in that work, and comprising two 

 Liliaceous plants Hookera coronaria, ii, t. 98 (dated March ist, 1808), and 

 Hookera pulchella t. 117 (dated September ist, 1808). Smith read his paper on 

 Hookeria (founded on Hypnum lucens L.) at the Linnean Soc. on April 8th, 1808, 

 and at a subsequent meeting named Salisbury's Hookera Brodiaa. He also 

 published his Hookeria lucens in Eng. Bot. t. 1902 (dated June ist, 1808); and 

 thus Salisbury's name has priority, though, owing to the notorious jealousy and 

 ill-will existing between him and Smith, I think it very probable that Hookera was 

 published intentionally to anticipate Smith's Hookeria. 



When we consider that at this time the war with France was raging, we may 

 be certain that there was no exchange of literature between England and the 

 Continent, and it happened that in 1814 Schleicher found an acrocarpous moss 

 in Switzerland, which he sent to Schwaegrichen and Bridel, with the information 

 that he named it Hookeria splachnoides, in honour of the English botanist. 



