Bruchia Moss

Bruchia fusca is much like B. hallii and differs almost exclusively in the ornamentation of the spores, a trait that may prove to be an intraspecies genetic difference.

Distal leaves ovate, 0.6-1.3 mm, leaf base not differentiated in shape; distal laminal cells short-rectangular. Sexual condition autoicous. Seta 0.3-1.2 mm. Capsule neck short, obovate. Spores pitted. Calyptra smooth.

Bruchia fusca E. G. Britton, Bull. Torrey Club 21 : 361. 1894 Plants gregarious, light-yellow or brown, 2-3 mm. high, the protonema more or less persistent, bidden under pebbles and stones; stems short, 1-2 mm. long, naked at the base, erect or decumbent : leaves few, 3-6, erect-appressed, short, 1 mm. long or less, sometimes reaching the base of the capsule, clasping, often broader than long and tricuspidate, entire, or subserrulate with a narrow border of small, retuse cells; apex obtuse, acute or cucullate; costa faint, ending below the apex, or lacking in the lower rudimentary leaves; cells lax at base. Autoicous: antheridia in basal buds: seta short, 0.25-0,50 mm. long, immersed or slightly exserted, straight or curved: calyptra smooth, deeply lobed: capsule large and broad, 1-1.5 mm. long, entirely exserted, ovoid-pyriform, abruptly apiculate, the neck occasionally half the length of the capsule, usually shorter, abrupt or tapering; stomata large; walls of the capsule dense, brown, not transparent: spores 21-27 /i in diameter, smooth, brown, pitted, maturing in April.
Type locality; In sandy soil, Maryland.
Distribution: Maryland and North Carolina.