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Mohr. Bridel. Hooker and Taylor. Dill. Musc. t.
32. f. 2. B.

Sphagnum capillifolium B. cuspidatum Bridel, Musc. Rec.
Wahlenb. Fl. Lap. S. capillifolium Funk. Deutsch.
Moose, t. 3. n. 9.

var. B. recurvum; leaves shorter, oblong-lanceolate, recurved when dry.

Sphagnum recurvum Pal. Beauv. Ætheog. Prodr. p. 88.
Bridel, Bryol. Univ. 1. 13.

Sphagnum pentastichum Bridel, Mant. Musc.

var. y. plumosum; leaves longer, much attenuated; branches widely spreading or pendulous. (TAB. IV.)

S. cuspidatum B. plumosum Bryol. Germ. t. 4. f. 9.* Bridel. var. d. hypnoides; leaves crowded, falcato-secund.

S. cuspidatum y. Bridel, Bryol. Univ. 1. 752.

Hab. In wet bogs frequent. var. 7. growing in water.

Fr. June, July.

Stems 3 inches to a foot in length, the aquatic variety sometimes, as in Ravelrig Toll, near Edinburgh, seven feet long (Dr. Greville), with distant fascicles of branches 4 or 5 together; branches (fig. b.) more or less deflexed and widely spreading, attenuated, longer than in most other species. Stem-leaves ovate, spreading; branch-leaves (fig. b.l.) lanceolate-acuminate, spreading, rather acute but præmorse at the apex (fig. a.l.), moderately concave, the margin cartilaginous, when dry (fig. d.), undulated or slightly crisped. Perichætial leaves broadly ovate, acute. Capsule on a short pedicel. Inflorescence

dioicous.

The var. plumosum has the leaves sometimes an inch in length, those of the pendant branches (which are sometimes again branched) much attenuated, and serrulate at the apex. var. & is not found in Britain.

S. cuspidatum has usually pale whitish foliage (green in the var. ß. recurvum). The leaves when dry are flattened, not concave, and their undulated margin, when dry, furnishes an unfailing character to distinguish the species from S. acutifolium.

8. Sphagnum contortum Schultz (black-stemmed Bog-Moss); stem rather rigid, blackish, with a single layer of cortical cellules; branches rather crowded, more or less contorted, attenuated; leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, straight, imbricated, concave, subcoriaceous. (TAB. LX.)

Sphagnum contortum Schultz, Suppl. Fl. Starg. p. 64.
Nees and Hornsch. Bryol. Germ. t. 2. f. 6. Bridel.
Mougeot and Nestler, n. 807.

var. B. subsecundum; stems more slender; branches shorter; leaves subsecund. (TAB. LX.)

Sphagnum subsecundum Nees and Hornsch. 1. c. t. 3. f. 7. Mougeot and Nestler, n.806. Funk, Deutsch. M. t. 2. n. 5. var. y. obesum; stem more robust; branches thicker and longer; leaves larger.

S. obesum Wilson, MS.

S. laxifolium Valentine, MS.

var. d. laricinum; stem coated with more than one layer of cortical cellules; leaves loosely imbricated, slightly undulated when dry, pores of the leaf very minute. S. laricinum Spruce in lit.

Hab. In bogs, ditches, and near pools, not unfrequent near springs. var. ß. in wet bogs. var. y. in or near water, at the sides of pools. var. d. bogs. Terrington Carr, Yorkshire, 1847, barren: Mr. Spruce.

Fr. July.

Stem 3 to 6 inches long or more. Leaves closely imbricated, sometimes secund, ovate-lanceolate, concave, more or less acute, somewhat coriaceous, composed of smaller cellules than usual, the cellules beautifully bordered on each side with a row of small pores at the back of the leaf. Inflorescence dioicous.

The habit of this species is peculiar: it may usually be known at sight by the somewhat fawn-coloured hue and close texture of the foliage. The contorted branches are not always observable, even in the same tuft. S. contortum 3. rufescens of Bryol. Germ. t. 2. f. 6.*, appears to belong to this species. It is closely allied to S. sedoides a doubtful and imperfectly known exotic species, of which fine specimens are given in the Musci Alleghanienses of Sullivant and Gray,

n. 208.

S. contortum &. laricinum may eventually prove to be a distinct species, intermediate between contortum and cuspidatum. It is known only in a barren state, and has been found in only one spot; and as its distinctive marks are very obscure, we prefer to rank it as a variety of contortum, although it differs in the structure of the stem, and the leaves are more loosely imbricated, smaller, narrower, and less coriaceous than in the normal state of the species, and of a greenish hue; the cellules of the leaf are narrower and bordered with exceedingly minute pores; and the margin of the leaf is slightly crisped or wavy when dry, but less evidently so than in S. cuspidatum. We have lately observed an intermediate state of S. contortum, having the foliage as in S. laricinum, and the stem with the usual single layer of cortical cellules.

Reference to Figure of Sphangnum contortum.

b.l. Branch leaves. a.l. Apex of one of the leaves more highly magnified. r. Reticulation of leaf, showing the spiral lining of the cellules and the marginal pores. " The same, still more highly magnified, in var. ß. subsecundum. b. A fasciculus of branches detached from the stem, nut. size. s.l. Stem-leaf, and portion of stem, magnified. b.l. Branch-leaves. s.s. Portion of a transverse section of stem, highly magnified, showing the single layer of cortical cellules.

tt Leaves squarrose.

9. Sphagnum squarrosum Persoon (spreading-leaved BogMoss); stem elongated, rigid; branches deflexed, attenuated; leaves ovate-acuminate, acute, squarrose, recurved. (TAB. IV.) Spagnum squarrosum Nees and Hornsch. Bryol. Germ. t. 1. f. 3. Eng. Bot. t. 1489. Web. and Mohr. Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 4. Moug. and Nestl. n. 209. Funk, Deutsch. Moose, t. 2. n. 4. Bridel. Hook and Taylor. Hab. In bogs, not rare. Fr. June, July.

Stems 6 inches to a foot long, rigid, and robust, often forked or subdivided, with more scattered branches than the first species; branches deflexed or recurved, attenuated, half an inch long or more; 5 in each fascicle, 2 branches pendulous and closely applied to the stem. Leaves much recurved and squarrose, acute, the cellules with large pores at the back of the leaf. Capsules large, on long pedicels. Inflorescence monoicous. Archegonia 4 in each fertile flower.

This species seems to be very constant in its character. The only one liable to be confounded with it is S. cuspidatum var. recurvum, which has leaves of a different shape, and undulated in the margin when dry. A state of S. cymbifolium has the leaves somewhat squarrose, but they are always obtuse and concullate at the apex, and are very different from this.

ORDER III. BRYACEÆ.

SECTION I. ACROCARPI.

Fruit terminal, sometimes cladocarpous, i. e. with fructification at the extremity of a very short lateral branch.

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Distinguished by the closed indehiscent capsule, which has no proper deciduous lid.

3. ARCHIDIUM Bridel. Clay-Moss.

PHASCUM Hooker and Taylor.

Capsule globular, sessile, on the short tumid vaginula, without any trace of an operculum. Columella fugacious, soon obliterated. Spores very large, few, angular. Calyptra thin and membranous, irregularly torn in the middle by the swelling of the capsule, as in Sphagnum.

Stems very short, erect or procumbent, branched, caespitose, in favourable circumstances bi-triennial, or perhaps perennial, with innovations (new fertile shoots) from the base of the flower, and long slender barren branches or stolons from the lower part of the stem of the previous year. Leaves lanceolate, entire, nerved; perichætial leaves larger than the rest, erect. Inflorescence monoicous; barren flower gemmiform, 2-leaved or naked, in the axils of the perichætial leaves.

The genus Archidium is distinguished from Phascum by the sessile globular capsule, large spores, and perennial growth. Only one species is found in Europe. Name from apxidior, αρχίδιον, beginning; because this genus is the first and the most simple of the series.

Archidium phascoides Bridel (large-seeded Clay-Moss); leaves

lanceolate, distant; perichætial leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, toothed near the apex, nerve strong, excurrent. (TAB. V.) Archidium phascoides Bridel, Bryol. Univ. 1. 747. Tab. Suppl. III. Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 205. Bruch and Schimp. Bryol. Europ. fasc. 1. t. 1. p. 4. and fasc. 43. t. 1. Phascum alternifolium Dickson, Crypt. fasc. 1. 2. t. 1. f. 2. Smith, Fl. Brit. Eng. Bot. t. 2107. Hedwig, Sp. Musc. Schwaegr. Suppl. t. 10. Hooker and Taylor, Musc. Brit. ed. 1 & 2. t. 5.

Hab. Moist banks, heaths and fallow ground, in a clayey or chalky soil. Fr. March, April.

Stems of the first year inch long, simple; in the following year decumbent, branched, elongated, sometimes an inch long. Fertile branches, or innovations, short, crowned with the perichætial leaves; sterile branches very slender, with remote leaves. Stem-leaves disposed in five rows, lower ones smaller, lanceolate, entire, nerve strong, vanishing below the apex; upper leaves larger; perichætial leaves much larger, evidently toothed near the apex, nerve excurrent, forming a subulate point. Vaginula small, roundish. Spores very large, angular from mutual pressure, about 16 in each capsule, greenish. Calyptra very thin, scarcely discernible on the ripe capsule. Antheridia naked in the axils of the perichætial leaves, or rarely with 1 or 2 involucral scales.

Archidium phascoides has been confounded with the true Phascum alternifolium; and even in the excellent work of Bruch and Schimper its synonymy is not correctly given. The barren shoots have some resemblance to Dicranum varium, but the leaves are shorter, more distant, not reflexed in the margin, and they have a much stronger

nerve.

4. PHASCUM Lin. Earth-Moss.

Capsule subsessile or shortly pedicellate, ovate, or roundish, indehiscent, or sometimes with traces of a line of dehiscence below the imaginary or persistent lid. Calyptra campanulate or cucullate. Spores much smaller than in Archidium, but larger than in most of the other genera, roughish or muriculate on the surface, roundish. Columella soon disappearing in the smaller species.

Plants very small, almost stemless, the larger species caulescent, slightly branched, mostly annual, growing upon newly exposed soil. Leaves in eight rows (disp. ), erect, or spreading, more or less crowded, nerved, rarelynerve less, entire, or serrated, lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or subspathulate, their cellules rather large, forming oblong or roundish areola.

Inflorescence monoicous; barren flower either gemmiform at the base of the fertile plant, or axillary, gemmiform or naked, more rarely terminal and discoid; fertile flower terminal, gemmiform; antheridia and archegonia few, with or without filiform paraphyses.

In strict adherence to a natural method of arrangement, this genus should be parcelled out into several suborders; but in a work of this kind it seems desirable not to disturb the existing nomenclature, and we have accordingly disposed the species. into sections of the genus, indicating the suborders to which they respectively belong, so far as the affinities can be ascertained. Name from qúokov, vesicula, in allusion to the bladdery capsules.

SECT. I. Of short duration and rapid growth. Stem scarcely any; capsule immersed in the leaves; burren flower gemmiform, at the base of the fertile flower or contiguous to it. EPHEMERUM Hampe, &c.

a. Growing from a converva-like thallus; columella fugacious.

1. Phascum serratum Schreb. (serrated Earth-Moss); stemless; leaves lanceolate, serrated, nerveless, connivent; capsule subsessile, roundish-ovate. (TAB. V.)

Phascum serratum Schreber, de Phasco, p. 9. t. 2. Hed-
wig, Sp. Musc. Smith, Eng. Bot. t. 460. Dicks. Crypt.
fasc. 1. t. 1. f. 1. Turner, Musc. Hib. Hook. and Tayl.
Weber and Mohr. Bot. Tasch. p. 71. Bridel. Nees
and Hornsch. Byrol. Germ. Bruch and Schimper,
Bryol. Europ. fasc. 1. t. 1. p. 6.

Phascum stoloniferum Dicks. fasc. 3. t. 7. f. 2. Smith,
Fl. Brit. Eng. Bot. t. 2006.

Ephemerum serratum C. Müller, Syn. Musc. Bryol. Eur.
fasc. 42. t. 1.

var. B. angustifolium; leaves narrower, linear-lanceolate, obscurely toothed; capsule smaller.

Hab. Shady banks and fallows, in sandy soil. Var. B. at Mere, in Cheshire, with the next species.

Fr. Spring or Autumn.

Plants very minute, gregarious. Leaves 6-9, suberect, often turned to one side, lower ones smaller, all more or less serrated, concave, light green, loosely reticulated. Pedicel very short, scarcely extending beyond the vaginula. Capsule large in proportion to the plant, bright reddish-brown, somewhat pointed. Columella disappearing as the capsule ripens. Calyptra campanulate, sometimes split on one side. Spores about 200, yellowish, rough, and globular, as in most of the species. Inflorescence certainly monoicous (dioicous, according to Bryol. Europ.); male fl. with fewer leaves; antheridia about 4, without paraphyses.

The conferva-like shoots of this and of the allied species are the first growth of the plant after the germination of the spore, and they disappear in some species after the full development of the fruit. All mosses possess analogous shoots in the first stage of vegetation. P. stoloniferum of Dickson is only a state of this species, without the confervoid shoots, growing in a scattered manner, with larger, narrower, and more evidently toothed leaves, and with creeping stolons.

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