—26— 
Limpr.; Massalongo & Carestia, Nuovo Gior. Bot. Ital. 14: 218. 1882. Cesia 
varians Lindb. Meddel. Soc. F. et Fl. Fenn. 13: 238. 1886. C. crassifolia Lindb. 
/. c. 14: 48. 1888. Acolea varians Steph. Bull. Herb. Boissier II. 1 : 149 [Sp. Hepat. 
2: 10]. 1901. A. crassifolia Steph. /. c. II. 1: 150. 1901. Cesia conferta Pears. 
Hep. British Isles 397. pL 775. 1901. 
Collected in Augtst, 1913, at and near Simpson Pass, vicinity of Banff, 
British Columbia, 6750-7400 feet altitude, on wet or moist earth, by A. Brink- 
man (Nos. 904, 937, 963, 973, 978). These specimens have already been reported, 
without definite localities, by Conklin.*' They represent an addition to the 
North American flora. 
The long synonymy brings out the interesting fact that G. varians was in- 
dependently described as new by Lindberg, by Carrington, and by Limpricht at 
about the same time. Lindberg's species was based on Norwegian material, 
Carrington's on Scottish, and Limpricht's on Austrian. The plant has a wide 
distribution in Europe and is distinctly arctic-alpine in ils range, often appearing 
close to the snow line and sometimes forming extensive mats of a dark brown or 
blackish hue. The lack of a perianth around the young sporophyte shows that 
the species is a Gymnomitrium, rather than a Marsupella, and the dark color 
indicates that it should be assigned to the subgenus Homocraspis. So far as 
known the only, other North American representative of this subgenus is G. 
revolutum (Nees) Philibert, which has been reported from Greenland, but other 
species are doubtless to be expected. 
There is a little danger ot confusing G. varians with any of our other species 
of Gymnomitrium. It bears a v':trong resemblance, however, to Marsupella 
Mstulata (Hiiben.) Spruce, which grows in somewhat similar localities. So far 
as the -leaves are concerned the two species are strikingly alike. The lobes in 
both cases are acute or subacute, the sinus is acute, and the depth of the sinus 
is one third of less the length of the leaves. The median leaf-cells, moreover, 
measure 12-18^ in width, and the cell-walls have more or less evident trigones. 
Of course the presence of a perianth in the Marsupella will at once serve to dis- 
tinguish it, and the constantly paroicoua inflorescence is likewise a distinctive 
feature. In Gymnomitrium varians the inflorescence is sometimes paroicous, but 
the antheridia are often borne on separate branches or even on distinct plants. 
In G. crassifolium the inflorescence is said to be constantly dioicous, and European 
writers still recognize its validity on the basis of this character, although they 
admit that its claims are exceedingly doubtful. Another species, which should 
probably be included among the synonyms of G. varians, is G. cochleare (Lindb.) 
K. Miill. of Norway. As Miiller states the distinctive features of this species 
are very vague, and he predicts that it will be regarded in the future as nothing 
more than a small form of G. varians."^ 
3. JuNGERMANNiA Peckii Aust.; Peck, Ann. Rep. Regents Univ. State 
New York 19: 68. 1866. "Decayed wood, Sand Lake [New York]." 
6 Bryologist 17: 14. 19 14. 
7 Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen-Fl. 6:431. 1909. 
