zgi 



WEBERACE^. 



Plants very short, gregarious, growing on turfy soil. Leaves 

 Ungulate or lanceolate, nerved, flexuose, crisped when dry, fragile, with 

 rounded opaque cells in 2 — 3 strata. Perich. bracts larger, ciliate or 

 serrate, aristate with the excurrent nerve, membranous ; Caps, 

 immersed or exserted, subsessile, ovoid, oblique, gibbous ; calyptra 

 conico-mitriform, entire, scarce covering the conical acuminate lid ; 

 peristome none, endostome a pale i6-plicate, conical membrane ; 

 spores minute. 



This small family of 5 or 6 species has generally been united to 

 Buxbaumiaceae, but the only relationship to Buxhaumia lies in the similarity 

 of the capsule and endostome, for in leaf structure it comes very close to 

 Tortulaceae, especially to the section Tortella of Mollia. The epicarpic 

 membrane is thick at the mouth of the capsule, but all the rest is thin and 

 flaccid, and the capsule wall stands away from the spore sac, being connected 

 with it by short filaments. 



Ehrhart's name must certainly be retained for the genus and not 

 superseded by that of Mohr. Three years later Hedwig applied the name 

 Weheya to another genus, comprising Bartramia, pomiformis, B. Halleri and 

 Meesea trichodes — Fund. muse. II, 95 (1782) — and, apparently forgetful of this, 

 he a third time used it as a genus of mosses for Brywn nutans and pyriforme 

 in his Muse, frond, i, (1787) ; repeating this in the Sp. muscorum (1801). 

 But in these two latter works he also founded a genus Pohlia for Bryum 

 elongatmn, a congener of B. nutans, and Lindberg has very cleverly settled 

 the difficulty by maintaining the original genus Webem of Ehrhart, and 

 transferring the third genus of that name to Pohlia of Hedwig. 



WEBERA Ehrhart. 



(Hann. mag. 1779, p. 257.) 



The only genus and therefore the character is the same as that of 

 the family. — Der. After G. H. Weber, author of Spicil. Fl. Goettingens. 



WEBERA SESSILIS {Schmid.) Lindb. 



Dioicous ; dwarfish, gregarious. Leaves Ungulate, entire, with the 

 nerve vanishing ; perich. bracts ovato-lanceolate, laciniato-ciliate, nerve 

 longly aristate. (T. XLIII.) 



