SPLACHNEI. 163 



36. DISSODON, Grev. fy Am. 



Sporangium with a long, solid, tapering apophysis ; colu- 

 mella retracted, mostly exserted when dry ; peristome of sixteen 

 short double-teeth, slightly incurved (not reflexed) when dry. 

 Terrestrial Mosses, with obtuse entire leaves. 



1. D. FroBlichlanus, Grev. fy Am.; gregarious or tufted; 

 leaves ovato-oblong, sublingulate ; nerve reaching nearly to 

 the tip ; sporangium with the apophysis clavato-pyriform ; 

 lid conical ; teeth in pairs ; columella not exserted. — Hook. 8f 

 Wils. t. ix. ; Eng. Bot. t. 2507. 



Said to have been found by Dickson in Aberdeenshire. 

 Bearing fruit in summer. 



Synoicous or polygamous. Stems short ; leaves loosely im- 

 bricated, green, shining ; sporangium clavato-pyriform, neck 

 or apophysis confluent with it but shorter; columella not ex- 

 serted when dry ; teeth sixteen in eight pairs, each marked 

 with a medial line ; spores large, papillose, brownish. 



Dickson's plant was probably nothing more than a state of 

 the next. 



2. D. splachnoides, Grev. 8f Am.; leaves erecto-patent, 

 Ungulate, obtuse ; nerve reaching nearly to the apex ; sporan- 

 gium obovate, tapering below; peristome of sixteen equidis- 

 tant teeth ; columella exserted. — Hook. 8f Wils. t. xiv. ; Eng. 

 Bot. t. 2095 ; Grev. Sc. Crypt. Fl. t. 145. ; (Plate 14, fig. 6.) 



In wet turfy bogs on high mountains in Scotland. Bear- 

 ing fruit in summer. 



Forming dense, dark-green, tall, fastigiate tufts, blackish be- 

 low. Stems dicbotomous, clothed with dark rootlets below ; 

 leaves obovato-oblong or Ungulate ; sporangium with the 

 swollen aphophysis oval, erect, or sometimes oblique ; lid co- 

 nical, remaining attached a long time to the exserted columella; 



m 2 



