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Herbarium — Part 17

Habit and habitat.--In wide pale-green tufts on shady banks and slopes in the woods.

Name.--The specific name, heterostihum, is a compound of two Greek words, other, and, rank, referring to two kinds of leaves.

Plant (gametophyte).--Stems densely covered with red-brown filaments (tomentose).

Leaves.--Inclined to one side; lower obovate,upper gradually longer and obovate-oblong, incurved on one side; apex nearly flat, obtusely pointed (apiculate); margin saw-toothed from the middle upward; vein (costa) yellow-brown, vanishing below the apex.

Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on one plant (monoicous). The male flower-clusters, sessile along the stems, and with rootlets at the base. The inner leaves of the clusters broadly ovate-concave, abruptly pointed and veined.

Veil (calyptra).--Split up one side.

Spore-case.--Oblong, slightly incurved and inclined.

Pedicel (seta).--Short, erect.

Lid (operculum).--Convex, obtusely short-beaked.

Annulus.--Large, rolling back as the lid falls.

Teeth (peristome).--Large, the inner segments open, but not disjoined, cilia 2 to 3.

Spores.--Mature in June.

Distribution.--Asia, Japan, North America.