174 
7. BRACHYTHECIUM ALBICANS (Neck.) Br. & Sch. Bryol. Eur. fasc. 
52-54. pl. 553. 1853. 
Hypnum sericeum gracile albicans Dill. Hist. Musc. 328. pl. 
42 f. 63. 1741. 
Hypnum albicans Neck. Meth. Musc. no. 36. 1771; also 
Hedw. Descr. et Adumb. 4: 13. 7. 5. 1793. 
Hypnum flavescens Roth. Fl. Germ. 3: 303. 1800. 
Brachythectum pseudo-albicans Kindb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, 
T7: 378. 1890. 
Gametophyte in rather loose glossy light-green mats; stems 
decumbent or ascending, much divided, irregularly bnn 
slightly radiculose ; branches erect or ascending, terete-foliate, 
slender, 5-15 mm. long; branch leaves decurrent, appressed-im- 
bricate when dry, ovate-lanceolate, smaller and narrower toward 
the end of the branches, 1.6-2.2 X 0.5 to 0.7 mm., long and slen- 
derly acuminate, entire or rarely slightly denticulate, concave or 
bisulcate; margins more or less reflexed ; costa extending beyond 
the middle ; median cells linear-fusiform, 5—8:1 ; basal broader and 
shorter ; quadrate alar cells numerous ; stem leaves broader, 0.6- 
I mm. wide, more abruptly narrowed to the slender acumination : 
dioicous; perichaetium 2.5 mm. long; the leaves with loosely 
sheathing bases and spreading points; inner leaves exceedingly 
long filiform acuminate trom an oblong base, nearly entire, costa 
extending nearly through the body of the leaf. Sporophyte 12-20 
mm. high, sometimes 2 from 1 perichaetium ; seta smooth, red- 
brown; capsule red-brown, ovoid, 2 mm. long, 2:1, unsymmetric, 
inclined or horizontal, little or not at all contracted under the 
mouth when dry ; operculum convex-conic ; annulus of 2 rows of 
cells, persistent ; teeth of peristome linear-lanceolate, yellow brown; 
segments somewhat shorter than the teeth ; cilia 2 or 3, appendi- 
culate; spores finely roughened, 14-185; rarely fruiting. 
Type locality European. 
On rocks and in dry sandy or grassy places. Rocky: Moun- 
tains and westward in northern United States and Canada ; Agattu, 
Id. Behring Sea, U. S. S. Albatross ; Greenland (Fl. Gr.). 
IrrusrRATIONS.—Dill. L c. ; Br. & Sch. |. c. ; Hedw. 1. c; 
Husnot, Musc. Gall. AJ. 93. 
