Sphagnum.] SniAGXACEJE. 19 



vaginate, ovate-acuminate, subfalcate, erose at the apex: cap- 

 sules from the tufted branches, small, reddish-brown. — Proc. 

 Amer. Acad. xiv. 133. S. humile Austin, Bull. Torr. Club, 

 vii. 2. 

 Hab. Florida {Dr. A. P. Garber). 



§ 5. SuBSEcuNDA. JBranch-leuves more or less secund or 

 falcate, very Jibrillose, more or less porose in the iq^i^er 

 part: ducts medial., compressed or triangular., generally 

 free on the broader side. 



15. S. subsecundum, Nees. Dicecious, loosely cespitose, 

 variously colored : stem solid, with a simple layer of cortical 

 cells ; branches in fascicles of 3 or 4, recurved or pendent, short : 

 stem-leaves small, enlarged at base, deltoid or ovate, cucullate 

 at the obtuse minutely fimbriate apex, the utricles fibrillose and 

 porose in the upper part only ; branch-leaves spreading, secund, 

 ovate-acuminate, deeply concave, margined, 2-3-toothed at the 

 apex, the utricles fibrillose and with numerous small pores, gen- 

 erally 2-ranked close to the walls; perichretial leaves oblong- 

 acuminate, fibrillose in the upper part : capsules in the tufted 

 branches: spores ferruginous. — Bryol. Germ. i. 17, t. 3; 

 Schimp. Torfm. t. 22 ; Braithw. Sphag. 48, t. 9, 10 ; Lindb. 

 Sphag. 28. 



Var. auriculatum, Lindb. Stem-leaves distinctly auricu- 

 late. — Schimp. Torfm. 77, t. 24. 



Var. laxum. Loosely cespitose, variegated in color : stem- 

 leaves Ungulate, obtuse ; branch-leaves long-ovate, with cunei- 

 form ducts near the convex surface ; perichretial leaves very 

 large. — S. Lesciirii, Sulliv. Mosses of U. States, 11. 



Var. contortum, Schimp. Dark green, with crowded and 

 somewhat circinate branches: stem-leaves larger, the utricles 

 fibrillose and porose their whole length ; branch-leaves larger. 

 — S. contortum, Schultz ; Nees & Hornsch. Bryol. Germ. i. 15, 

 t. 2, fig. 6. 



Var. obesum, Schimp. Very stout, with tiunid branches 

 and large closely imbricate leaves. — S. contortum, var. obesum, 

 Wils. Bryol. Brit. 22. 



Haii. Peat-bogs, in the middle and northern sections, generally border- 

 ing ditches or filling depressions in the bogs. 



16. S. laricinum, Spruce. Closely resembling the last, 

 differing in the double or triple layer of cortical cells, the much 



