Mosses of Mount Washington, 1939

Abstract

As reported in the Plant World, a few mosses were collected on Mt. Washington in the sulimmer of 1898, in a few liours of a single day. Ever since that time I have planned to spend a longer time and make a more thorough study but never seemed to have sufficient urge to attempt it until August, 1939, when incited by Mrs. Haring and Miss M. L. Wickes. We took two automobiles from Newfane, Vt., to the mountain summiit, in a drive of a few hours. Stopping at the Half-way House to cool the engines, we found the soil at the roadside covered with Pogonatum capillare with abundant immature sporophytes, and on the rocks numerous cushions of Grimmia Doniana in perfect fruit. At about two miles from the summit we were enveloped in a dense fog driven by a chilling wind, which made the hotel at the summit a very welcome refuge. Despite the fog and gathering darkness we went to the garage at the site of the stables where 41 years ago there had been abundant Tetraplodon mnioides on the manure piles, but though examined carefully then and later not a trace was found. On piles of old lumber nearby we collected mosses showing an abundance of shiny red-brown capsules, that later turned out to be nothing but Ceratodon purpureus. The morning was as cold and cheerless with fog and wind as the night before. In spite of this Miss Wickes and I went down the trail to Tuckerman's Ravine, guided by the immense cairns placed at short intervals along the trail. Unfortunately we did not get to the trap dykes, where Brachydontium was collected many years ago and has not been found or at least reported since. We slid under boulders and dug into the sides of rivulets for six hours or more, with very little lunch, reaching the hotel in late afternoon in a light drizzle of rain and the same dense fog. Just as it was getting light the next morning a wild medley of shouts and calls wakened me. Looking out the window I saw that the air was clear as crystal and everybody was being roused to see the sunrise. My room was on the west side and a lazy old man saw only a rosy glow and clear-cut mountain views. THE BRYOLOGIST [April 36