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N. Y. Bot. Garden I4: 99. I9I3. t Symbolae Antill. 3: 28. 1902. [The BULLETIN for December (4I: 577-657. pI. 21-23) was issued Ja 8, I9I5. Vol. 42 No. I BULLETIN OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB JANUARY, 1915 West Indian mosses-11. Mosses of the Danish West Indies and Virgin Islands ELIZABETH GERTRUDE BRITTON (WITH PLATE I) In February, 1913, Miss Delia W. Marble and I spent four weeks collecting on the island of St. Thomas, while Dr. Britton and Dr. Shafer cruised around among the other islands of the Archipelago in search of cacti and other plants. An account of their trip will be found in the Journal of the New York Botanical Garden.* As far as we know, no record of any other collection of mosses from these islands exists, excepting the brief account given by Dr. I. Urbant of the collections made by the Rev. Johann Christian Breutel in I841. Most of Breutel's mosses, 3I1 numbers, are deposited at the British Museum, but his collections included specimens from St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. Jan, St. Kitts, and Antigua, as well as the collections made in South Africa in I853- I854. This would account for the large number of specimens preserved in his herbarium, as our experience has shown that the Danish and Virgin Islands are not particularly rich in species of bryophytes. William Mitten had a few duplicates from Breutel's collec- tions including the following six species: Calymperes Richard'i C. Mull. (distributed as C. Afzeli'i Sw.), Hymenostomum Breutelii (C. Mull.) Broth., Tortula agraria (Sw.) Sw., Philonotis tenella (C. 1 2 BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES Mull.) Jaeg., Stereophyllum leucostegum (Brid.) Mitt. (distributed as Hypnum Breutelii Schimp.), and Taxithelium planum (Brid.) Mitt. (distributed as Hypnum Antillarum Schimp. ms.). Baron von Eggers collected a few mosses in St. Thomas, St. Jan, and Tortola in I887, but as far as we know no list of these has been published. We collected about seventy packets, but found only twenty- eight species, representing twenty-two genera, though we added three new species, a small Phascum, a sterile Hyophila, and a sterile Bryum, which has since been found on Mona Island also. A brief synonymy with localities and habitat of these species is given in the following enumeration: Nos. I-4 and 7-9 were determined by Mr. R. S. Williams; Nos. i6 and 17 by M. G. Dismier. Unless otherwise noted the specimens cited were col- lected by Miss Marble and myself. i. DICRANELLA LONGIROSTRIS (Schwaegr.) Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 30. I869 ST. JAN: without definite locality, Breutel, I841. 2. LEUCOLOMA SERRULATuM Brid. Bryol. Univ. 2: 752. I827 Leucoloma Riedlei Besch. Jour. de Bot. 5: 146. I89I. ST. THOMAS: on trees in wet woods, Riedle'. 3. OCTOBLEPHARUM ALBIDUM (L.) Hedw. Descr. 3: 15. 1791 ST. THOMAS: on roots of an Anthitrium, stone walls, between Pearl and Bonne Resolution near Caret Bay, I337. 4. LEUCOBRYUM POLAKOWSKYI (C. Miill.) Cardot, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Cherbourg 32: 82. I900 TORTOLA: on rotten wood, Sage Mt., W. C. Fishlock 83, May, 19I3. Also in Porto Rico, E. G. Britton 25I8, April, 1913.* 5. FISSIDENS KEGELIANUS C. Muill. Linnaea 2I: i8i. I848 ST. THOMAS and ST. JAN: at base of palms and on the ground, Breutel, I841 (distributed as F. palmatus [Sw.] Hedw.). ST. JAN: wet bank, Bethania, Britton & Shafer 208a. ST. THOMAS: * Both these are additions to ranges since the publication of Part 2, Vol. I5, of North American Flora. BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES 3 moist banks near French wharf; Water Island, Cowell Point, 147; -St. Peter, 38, 98; Magin's Bay, i9i; Smith's Bay, I289, I3I6, I459. 6. FISSIDENS ELEGANS Brid. Spec. Musc. I67. i8o6 ST. JAN; on wet rock, Bethania, Brittont & Shafer 36I. ST. THOMAS: Cowell Point, IOO. 7. SYRRHOPODON FLAVESCENS C. Mtll. Syn. I: 54I. I849 ST. JAN: on rotten wood, Bordeaux, 300 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 549. TORTOLA: without definite locality, W. C. Fishlock 82. May, 1913. 8. CALYMPERES RICHARDI C. Mtill. Syn. I: 524. I849 Calymperes Breutelii Besch. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. VIII. I: 278. I895. Calymperes hexagonum Besch. 1. c. 286. Calymperes IHookeri Besch. 1. c. 287. ST. THOMAS: without definite locality, Breutel (type of C. Breutelii); without definite locality, L. C. Richard (type of C. hexa- gonum); on rocks, summit of ridge, by roadside, north of Char- lotte Amalia, 408; on bank, Cowell Point, IOI. TORTOLA: Road- town to High Bush, 325 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 772. 9. CALYMPERES LONCHOPHYLLUM Schwaegr. Suppl. I2: I33. pl. 98. i8i6 TORTOLA: Sage Mt., W. C. Fishlock 85a, May, 19I3. IO. HYMENOSTOMUM BREUTELII (C. Mull.) Broth.; E. & P. Nat. Pfl. I': 386. 1902 Weisia Breutelii C. Mull. Syn. i: 664. I849. Not Schimp. Gymnostomum Breutelii Br. & Sch.; Paris, Index Bryol. 542. I895. Weisia senocarpa C. Mull. Syn. 2: 633. I85I. Gymnostomum senocarpum Jaeger, Adumb. I: 280. I873. Hymenostomum senocarpum Paris, Index Bryol. 597. I895. Weisia Pabstiana C. Mull. Bot. Zeit. I5: 382. I857. Weisia edentula Sull. Proc. Am. Acad. 5: 273. i86i. Not Mitt. Hymenostomum cubense Hampe; Paris, Index Bryol. Suppl. I89. I900. 4 BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST I NDIES ST. JAN: Emaus, Breutel (type locality); wet banks, Bethania, Britton & Shafer 209; Rosenberg and Bordeaux, Br'itton & Shafer 288, 534, 569. ST. THOMAS: on the ground, Water Island, I55; roadside banks, summit of ridge, Bonne Resolution, 1336; Bordeaux, I384; St. Peter, 1258; top of Flag Hill, Fitch & Shafer 1494. TORTOLA: Peter Island, Britton & Shafer 86o. ANAGADA: without definite locality, Britton & Shafer I039 I I. Hyophila uliginosa E. G. Britton sp. nov. Plants attached to rocks in stream, gregarious and matted together by fresh water algae, soft and flaccid when moist; stems simple, about 5 mm. high, branching at apex; leaves much dis- colored and clogged with mud at base, green and spreading at summit of stems, about I mm. long; base hyaline and oblong; apex lingulate and slightly carinate, apiculate; margins plane, entire or rarely denticulate with a few hyaline teeth at apex; costa stout, papillose on back and smooth above ending in the cuspidate point, in section showing one row of ducts and two small bands of stereid cells; basal cells hyaline, oblong or square, up to i6 , long by 8 , wide, upper cells obscure up to 5,u in diameter, green and densely papillose, with several minute papillae on each surface; dioicous; flowers and fruit unknown; propagating by septate gemmae borne in clusters on brown fila- ments in the axils of the leaves. [PLATE I, FIG. i-6.] TYPE LOCALITY:-ST. JAN: Bethania, Britton & Shafer 367. 12. Phascum sessile E. G. Britton sp. nov. Plants annua l(?), gregarious in.loose bare earth, on banks; stems simple, or branching at base, with several rosettes from one root, 1-2 mm. high; leaves inrolled with conspicuous yellowish-white costa when dry, bright green in color and spreading when moist, few, 8-12, oblong at base, obovate above, I-I.25 mm. long by 0.4-0.5 mm. wide; costa percurrent or excurrent into a short cuspidate point, terete and smooth on back, with a narrow dorsal stereid band and 2-3 rows of large ducts; margins entire or finely crenulate and papillose; upper cells hexagonal, up to I3 , in diameter, densely chlorophyllose with I-3 papillae on each surface; lower cells hyaline, oblong, 10-12 rows, up to 40 , long, not papillose, occasionally curved and yellow and slightly auricu- late at basal angles; paroicous, antheridia few, with paraphyses, in small buds below or near the archegonia, of which occasionally several are fertilized making 2-3 fruits on one plant; calyptra small, conic, split, slightly papillose at apex; capsule immersed, BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES 5 sessile on a small brown vaginule, globose, o.5 mm. in diameter, sharply apiculate, indehiscent; walls with irregular hexagonal cells, 27-32 ,u in diameter; spores brown, slightly roughened, 27- 30 , in diameter, maturing in spring. [PLATE I, FIG. 7-13.] TYPE LOCALITY:-ST. THOMAS: Cowell Point, E. G. Britton 99, February 2, 1913. DISTRIBUTION:-ST. THOMAS: Water Island, I50, I56. This species belongs to the section Microbryutm and is close to P. Floerkeanum, but differs in the less acuminate and less subulate leaves with plane margins without a yellow border, and more chlorophyllose and papillose cells. 13. TORTULA AGRARIA (Sw.) Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 3: 1763. I806 ST. JAN: Bethania, Breutel; Bethania, Britton & Shafer 241, 268. ST. THOMAS: on limestone walls of old cemeteries, 'Breutel; on damp earth, Nisky, 77; Cowell Point, 97; old walls, Crown Estate, 450 m. alt., I369; on rocks atwaterfall, Magen's Bay, i3i5; stone walls, Bonne Resolution School, 442. 14. Bryum micro-decurrens E. G. Britton sp. nov. Plants gregarious, in loose soil, brown at base and also more or less brown above, from the excurrent awns; stems dull green, slender, erect and mostly simple, unbranched, not more than 5 mm. high, matted with brown tomentum at base; leaves erect-appressed when dry, not twisted nor glossy; spreading when moist, less than I mm. long by 0.2 mm. wide; costa wide at base 40 , (at least .2 width of leaf), excurrent into a short subulate brown awn, slightly toothed at apex and on awn; cells of blade hexagonal, 27-40 , long X iO , wide, basal cells shorter, oblong, with a long, decurrent narrow wing of one row of cells, extending down the stem to the next leaf; margins bordered by one row of longer narrow cells 5 u X 54 A long, slightly revolute below and serrulate above; only known from sterile specimens. TYPE LOCALITY:-ANAGADA: rocky plain near settlement, Britton & Shafer I038. DISTRIBUTION:-Mona Island, Britton & Hess I75I, I753. These specimens have been compared with type specimens of B. decursivum C. Mull. from Porto Rico, kindly loaned to us by Dr. Engler from the Royal Botanical Garden at Berlin, and, though closely related by the decurrent narrow basal wing, ours differs in its shorter leaves, serrate margins and shorter cells. 6 BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES 15. BRYUM CRUEGERI Hampe; C. Mull. Syn. I: 300. I849 Dioicous plants bright yellowish green, shining gregarious in loose soil in gravelly bed of stream; stems short, less than i cm. high, upper part of stem erect, base decumbent red and radiculose; leaves light yellowish green, glossy, spreading, lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 2 mm. long X 0.35-0.5 mm. broad; costa narrow, ending in the carinate, mucronate apex, margins entire below slightly serrulate at apex, not bordered nor revolute; cells hex- agonal 54-IO8 , long X 13 , broad, a few alar, shorter and broader, square or oblong, not decurrent; sterile but often propagating by gemmae. ST. THOMAS: in bed of stream at Tutu, 422. Compared with Chas. Wright 63 from Cuba, distributed as B. ovalifolium Sull., the leaves are slightly narrower and less con- cave, but they are evidently closely related species and both belong with the group of tropical American species having glossy leaves, and flaccid red stems, resembling a Pohlia. They grow mostly along streams and form a closely related group, of which B. ripense C. Mull. from Jamaica is also a member. I6. PHILONOTIS SPHAEROCARPA (Sw.) Brid. Bryol. Univ. 2: 25. I827 ST. THOMAS: moist banks, Bonne Resolution 421; Crown Estate, 450 m. alt., 1368, 1458. 17. PHILONOTIS TENELLA (C. Mull.) Jaeger, Adumb. I: 541. I 873-i 874 ST. JAN: on wet banks, near Corallenburg, Breutel, i841; Bethania, Britton & Shafer 208. TORTOLA: near Roadtown, 325 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 773. i8. PIREELLA CYMBIFOLIA (Sull.) Cardot, Rev. Bryol. 40: 17. 1913 ST. JAN: on wet rock near Bethania, Britton & Shafer 359. 19. PTEROBRYUM ANGUSTIFOLIUM (C. Mull.) Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 426. I869 TORTOLA: High Bush, Eggers 3240a, December, I887; Sage Mt., W. C. Fishlock 85, May, 1913. BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES 7 20. NECKERA DISTICHA (Sw.) Hedw. Descr. 3: 53. 1792 ST. THOMAS: on rocks at St. Peter, I456. TORTOLA: on rock in forest, High Bush, 375 meters alt., Britton & Shafer 84I. 21. NECKERA JAMAICENSE (Gmel.) E. G. Britton, Bull. Torrey Club 40: 656. 19I3 ST. JAN: on bark of trees at Bethania, Britton & Shafer 364. 22. CALLICOSTELLA BELANGERIANA (Besch.) Jaeger, Adumb. 2: 257. I874-I875 ST. JAN: on stones, Bordeaux, 300 meters alt., Britton & Shafer 548. 23. STEREOPHYLLUM LEUCOSTEGUM (Brid.) Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 543. I869 ST. JAN: Emaus, Breutel; Bethania, Britton & Shafer I357. ST. THOMAS: on rocks in shade, ravine at Tutu, 129I; waterfall near Magen's Bay, 13I4. 24. MITTENOTHAMNIUM DIMINUTIVUM (Hampe) E. G. Britton, Bryologist I7: 9. I914 ST. JAN: on dead wood, Bordeaux, 400 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 595. 25. TAXITHELIUM PLANUM (Brid.) Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 496. I869 ST. JAN: Breutel; Bethania, Br'itton & Shafer 358, 365, 366; Bordeaux, 400 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 568, 58o. ST. THOMAS: St. Peter, I259; Crown Estate, I366. TORTOLA: High Bush, Britton & Shafer 839. 26. SEMATOPHYLLUM ADMISTUM (SUII.) Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 485. I869 ST. JAN: Bordeaux, 300 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 554, 556, 578, 579. ST. THOMAS: St. Peter, on rocks, I257, I457. TORTOLA: High Bush, 375 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 8I4, 840. 27. SEMATOPHYLLUM SERICIFOLIUM Mitt. Jour. Linn. Soc. Bot. I2: 483. I869. TORTOLA: on logs in forest, High Bush, 375 m. alt., Britton & Shafer 8I9 8 BRITTON: MOSSES OF DANISH WEST INDIES 28. HAPLOCLADIUM MICROPHYLLUM (Sw.) Broth.; E. & P. Nat. Pfl. I3: 1007. 1907 ST. THOMAS: shaded bank, Pearl to Bonne Resolution, 1335. EUplanation of plate 1 The figures were drawn by Mr. R. S. Williams from magnifications twice as great as expressed in the numbers, which represent the magnification of the figures as they stand in the reproduction. HYOPHILA ULIGINOSA E. G. Britton FIG. I. Plant, natural size. FIG. 2. Propagula, X 35. FIG. 3. Upper leaf, X 35. FIG. 4. Cells in upper part of leaf, X 200. FIG. 5. Cells of leaf base, X 200. FIG. 6. Cross section in upper part of leaf, X 200. PHASCUM SESSILE E. G. Britton FIG. 7. Plant, X I i. FIG. 8. Cross-section in upper part of leaf, X 200. FIG. 9. Cross-section near leaf base, X 200. FIG. Io. Calyptra, X 35. FIG. II. Cells at basal angle, X 200. FIG. I2. Cells in upper part of leaf, X 200. FIG. I3. Upper leaf, X 20. BULL. TORREY CLUB VOLUME 42, PLATE I < ~~ ~ ~~~~3 X 6 5 I 0~~~~~~~~~~~ 102 R.S.W. i-6. HYOPHILA ULIGINOSA E. G. BRITTON 7-I3. PHASCUM SESSILE E. G. BRITTON