Fissidens palmatus Hedwig 1801

Fissidens palmatus (Sw.) Hedw. Sp. Muse. 154. 1801
Dicranum palmatum Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 1774. 1806.
Skitophyllum palmatum Pylaie, Jour, de Bot. Desv. II. 4: 146. 1814.
Plants pale green, gregarious and decumbent; stems simple, 1-3 mm. long; leaves 4-6 pairs, palmate-spreading, secund and twisted when dry, up to 2 mm. long, the lowest small and rudimentary, all lanceolate, acute or acuminate, entire or faintly toothed in the cuspidate apex, the margins bordered by 2-3 rows of long yellow cells, usually continuous to the apex, rarely lacking on the dorsal lamina of the lower leaves, the costa percurrent except in the lower leaves; vaginant laminae about half the length of the leaf, very oblique at the junction, lax, the border wider and indistinct at base; dorsal lamina narrowing to base; cells laxly reticulate, irregularly oblong-hexagonal, up to 30 X 10-15 /z or larger in the upper leaves, with thick walls, those of the vaginant laminae oblong or hexagonal, up to 50 X 18 m, those of the dorsal lamina up to 54 X 18 n, parallel with the vein, the border often ending above the base; rhizautoicous, the antheridia in basal buds with only 2 pairs of small leaves; seta geniculate, becoming erect, up to 5 mm. long, red and stouter at base; capsule horizontal, asymmetric and slightly curved, about 1 mm. long, the neck distinct, stomatose, the walls with oblong cells 21 X 1 3 m in diameter, those around the mouth smaller, denser and irregular, the urn up to 0.8 mm., the basal ceUs of collenchyma; calyptra minute, subulate; operculum conic-rostrate, nearly as long as the urn; annulus faUing with the opercultun; peristome red, the teeth paler and spirally thickened at apex, with projecting outer plates at base, the inner plates cristate; spores up to 10 ^ in diameter.
Type locality: Jamaica. Distribution: On clay; Jamaica.