—29 — 
SOME RECENTLY DESCRIBED NORTH AMERICAN POLYTRICHA* 
John M. Holzinger. 
In Limpricht’s Laubmoose, Band II, p. 853, the author has this note: 
“ P. 618: No. 618. Polytrichum Ohioense Ren. et Card, in Rev. Bryol. 
1885, p. 11 and 12, and in Coult. Bot. Gaz. XIII. p. 199, t. 17 (1888) has the 
priority over Polytrichum decipiens!” 
P. decipiens is described by Limpricht in 68. Jahresb. d. Schles. Ges. 
f. vaterl. Cultur 1890, II. p. 93; also in Laubmoose II, 1894, p. 618. In 1895, 
in August or September, appeared the note on p. 853 of Laubmoose, above 
cited. This shows that at the time of that writing Limpricht considered his 
P. decipiens identical with P. Ohioense, reducing his name to a synonym of 
the latter. Then in 1900, in Bot. Centralbl. XXI. Jabrg., No. 50, Prof. 
Harald Lindberg showed that the two plants are really separate, This view 
of the situation is honored by Limpricht in Laubmoose, Bd. Ill, (1903) p. 
800, where he again separates his P . decipiens from P. Ohioense. While P. 
Ohioense appears to be exclusively North American, P. decipiens is found 
both in Europe and this country. Prof. Lindberg cites the following locali- 
ties for P. Ohicense: Wisconsin, Milwaukee, leg. Lapham (Ex. Herb. Car- 
dot). Lake Michigan, leg. Lapham (Ex, Herb. Cardot). 
Illinois, Chicago, 1888, J. Roll (No. 1811). Edgewater near Chicago,, 
20. 9, 1888, J. Roll (No. 1815). 
New Jersey, Hoboken, 8, 1898, P. T. Cleve. 
Massachusetts, Milton, Blue Hill, 2, 6, 1898, 28, 8. 1898, 26. 12. 1898. G 
G. Kennedy. 
District of Columbia, Rock Creek, 10. 6. 1894, J. M. Holzinger. 
Renauld and Cardot in their check list of Musci Americse Septentrionalis, 
p. 41, give the range of A Ohioense as: Canada, Northern, Eastern and 
Central States, questionably British Columbia. 
The range of P. decipiens in North America is given by Lindberg as fol- 
lows : “Prince Edwards Island (as P. Ohioense Ren. et Card, in Can. 
Musci, No. 221). To this species belongs also No. 323 in Sullivant et 
Lesquereux, Musci Bor. Americani, named P. for mo sum Hedw, Mr, Car- 
dot refers this form in Botanical Gazette. Aug. 1888, to P. Ohioense. The 
specimens in Musci. Bor. Am. are without locality.” To this may be added 
a station in Minnesota, Miss Sarah O’Meara collecting near St. Charles, 
Winona Co., a plant the writer has referred to P. decipiens. 
The differences between these two species as pointed out by Lindberg in 
Bot. Centralbl. XXI. Jahrg., No. 50, are as follows: 
“ P. Ohioense Ren. et Card. 
“The lamellae of the leaves when seen from the side have a plane mar- 
gin not crenulate, strongly thickened, more or less distinctly papillose with 
marginal cells much smaller than the others ; the marginal cells in cross- 
section always concave, very much alike, strongly thickened especially on 
the outer wall. On the back of the leaf the cells are for the most part 
arranged lengthwise (i. e. in longitudinal rows), the cells of the sheath of the 
leaves shorter and broader.” 
