Three New Mosses from Tennessee

Plantae brevissimae (5 mm.), superne viridiores, inferne nigrae. Caulis cylindricus; vena media inchoata vel nulla. Folia glabra, spatulata, apice subacuto. Costa supra medium evanescens. Cellulae basilares rectangulares; cellulae medii et superioris folii similes, subquadratae, chlorophyllosae. Flores et fructus ignoti. Propagatio innovationibus basilaribus et propagulis abundantibus, inferne partis in facie dorsali foliorum. Propagula fere cylindrica. Plants growing in dense clusters in soot-filled crevices of bark. Plants easily separated from the substrate and from each other; short, rarely over 5 mm. in height, dark green above, blackish below. Stem circular in cross-section, central strand rudimentary or none. Leaves 1.2 X 0.3 mm., spatulate with subacute tip. Costa % the length of the leaf, 55 ,/ in width in the lower portion, smooth, in cross-section with 2 (rarely 3) ventral guide cells, dorsally of 9-13 stereids. Basal cells rectangular, up to 50 X 25 ,u, smooth with the exception of the propagula-bearing "papillae"; median and upper leaf cells similar, roundish-quadrate to 5and 6-sided, a few rectangular, smooth, with slightly thickened walls and indistinct trigones, averaging about 25 ju in diameter. Sex organs and sporophyte unknown. Reproduction by basal innovations and numerous propagula borne on the dorsal surfaces of the basilar regions of the leaves. Propagula-bearing cells differentiated only by the papilla-like spurs on which are borne the propagula. Propagula generally cylindrical, a few of bizarre form, smooth, densely chlorophyllose, divided at right angles to their longitudinal axes, and often muriform divided. Primary divisions none to six, depending on the size of the propagula. Width of the propagula usually about 40 ,, length up to 200 /. TYPE: On the bark of an American Elm (Ulmus americana L.) on the F. F. Van Deventer estate, 862 Temple Ave., Knoxville, Tennessee, alt. 950 ft. Dec. 27, 1932. The type material is deposited in the Herbarium of The University of Tennessee. The short costa and lack of papillae suggest perhaps another or new genus, but if the sporophyte is considered more conservative than the gametophyte, it seems this species should be left in Tortula until the sporophyte is discovered. The areolation of the leaves is similar to that of many species of Tortula and the gross appearance is almost identical with that of Tortula caroliniana Andrews. The propagula are similar in structure to those of T. caroliniana Andrews with the exception that the latter are papillose. Those of Andrews' species are also borne in the upper part of the leaf, Andrews' states "from the ventral surface," but in Pringle's Plantae Mexicanae, No. IO618, in the Yale Herbarium, they are