614 (14) MTJSCi. (mosses.) 



SUBOEDER HI. BRYACEii:. 



Div. I. Acrocai*pi. 



Fiiiit terminal on the main stem, or rarely terminal on short lateral branches. 



A* CLEISTOCAEPI. — Capsule without an operculum, rupturing irregularly. 

 Tribe I. PHASCE^. 



3. ARCHIDIUM, Brid. (Tab. I.) 



Calyptra irregularly ruptured in the middle ; the lower part persistent. Cap- 

 sule globose, sessile on the short vaginula, immersed. Columella none. Spores 

 large, few (8-15). Inflorescence monoecious : male flower naked or 2-leaved, 

 axillary. — Minute terrestrial plants, of a structure more simple than any of the 

 suborder, hence its name ('Apxi8iov, a beginning). 



1. A. OMoensc, Schimp. Stems at first erect, l"-2" high, afterwards 

 decumbent, and lengthened by innovations ; leaves lanceolate, cuspidate by the 

 excurrent costa, slightly denticulate above, the perich^etial much larger ; capsule 

 terminal on a short lateral branch. (A. phascoides, Miisc. AlkgJian., No. 213.) 

 —Meadows and waste fields. Central Ohio, and N. Alabama. (Tab. I.) 



4. PHASCUM, L. (Tab. I.) 



Calyptra campanulate or cuculliform. Capsule roundish, more or lessapicu- 

 late, shortly pedicellate, usually immersed. Columella present. Spores numer- 

 ous, muriculate : inflorescence monoecious. — Diminutive species, mostly annual, 

 growing on the ground, either stemless and bulb-like, or with a short stem, 

 sparingly divided; leaves costate or ecostate. {^dcrKov, an ancient name for a 

 moss.) — l?or convenience, the genus is here retained in its former extended sense ; 

 the names of the genera, into which a natural an'angement requh'cs the species 

 to be distributed, being used for sections. 



* Plants growing from a confervoid tliallus. Columella fugacious, 



§ 1. EPHEMERUM, Hampe. — Stemless: leaves of a loose rliomhoidal areolation : 

 calyptra campanulate-conic : capsule globose-ovate, subsessile, apiculate : spores 

 large : male flower gemmiform, at or near the base of the fertile stem. 



1. P. serratnm, Schreb. Leaves oblong or linear-lanceolate, ecostate, 

 deeply serrate ; capsule purple, shining. — Moist ground ; edge of woods. (Eu.) 



2. P. sessile, Br. & Sch. Leaves lanceolate-subulate, nearly entire ; costa 

 excurrent, more or less obsolete near the base. — Clayey soil, in thin woods. 

 Central Ohio. (Eu.) 



3. P. crassiucrvilllll, Schwsegr. Leaves linear-lanceolate, strongly 

 and irregularly dentate near the apex ; costa continuous, not excurrent. — With 

 the last. — Also with a var. ? having the leaves near the apex spinulose-dentate, 

 (the teeth often recurved,) and papillose or cristate on the back; spores much 

 larger: — probably E. spinulosum, Br. Sp Sch., mentioned in Wils. Bnjol. Brit., 

 p. 27. 



