Genus Fissidens
Genus FISSIDENS, Hedw.The species of this genus are metallic green, plume-like, simple or sparingly branched, growing in mats upon shady wet banks and rocks ; sometimes on tree-trunks, and sometimes floating in water.
The leaves grow in two opposite rows (distichous), and are double below as if folded together, they are winged along the back and expanded toward the apex into a vertical simple blade; the vein extends to or beyond the apex ; the cells are small and filled with leaf-green.
The spore-cases are erect, horizontal or pendent, always smooth and terminal, unless they have been thrust to one side by the growth of a branch at the base of the pedicel.
The peristome is single with sixteen teeth, red at the base and cleft at the apex, a character which has suggested the generic name from the Latin fissus, split, and dens, a tooth. When dry the teeth are incurved. The annulus consists of from one to four rows of large cells.
Five hundred and seventy-eight species are known in all, seventy-four in North America. The genus is represented throughout all the tropical and temperate regions in the world.
Fissidens Adiantoides Moss