34 



Figure 9. 



Leaf-apex of F. osmundi- 

 oides. (From Bry. Eur.) 



MOSSES WITH A HAND-LENS 



less than }i inch in height; sporophyte 

 lateral; capsule inclined, often cern- 

 uous ; beak of operculum long, usu- 

 ally bent at base ; spores maturing 

 in late autumn or winter. On damp 

 clayey soil. Its ''ear-mark " is the 

 excurrent casta. 



F. JuuANUS (Savi.) Schimp. 

 grows on stones in brooks and looks 

 like a small Fontinalis. The lens 

 readily shows the leaf structure to 

 be that of Fissidens. This species 

 is frequent' in brooks in Nev York 

 and New Jersey in the vicinity of 

 New York City. (See PI. VIII.) 



Family No. 7. 



DiCRANACEAE. 

 Family. 



The Dicranum 



HE plants of this family vary in size from exceedingly 

 minute to several inches in height. The leaves are 

 broadly lanceolate to subulate, often sheathing at base, 

 costate; leaf-cells square, or rectangular to linear, filled 

 with chlorophyll above, more elongated and with little 

 or no chlorophyll toward the base, often with special inflated 

 cells at the basal angles. The calyptra is smooth, narrow, and 

 cucullate. The capsules are an elongated setae, narrow, oval to 

 cylindrical, frequently cernuous and curved ; operculum usually 

 long-beaked; peristome of i6 teeth which are cleft half-way to 

 the base or further into two lanceolate or subulate divisions, 

 usually of a reddish color, transversely barred.* There are a few 

 cleistocarpous species with capsules rounded and immersed or 

 elongated and exserted. 



The leaf character and the peristome when present will 

 usually indicate the family to one who is at all familiar with it. 

 The plants of this family are inhabitants of soil and rocks, 

 rarely growing on trees, frequently on decaying wood. 



*For an illustration of a Dicranum peristome and a description of its 

 workings see p. ii. 



