PLANT NOMENCLATURE 263 



for each categoiy of corresponding rank. The suffixes recoiiniiended 

 for some groups in the International liules are, however, o])en to 

 serious objection upon linguistic grounds, while many more euplionious 

 suffixes are warranted by classical precedent. The endings recom- 

 mended by the American Code for suborders, subfamilies, and subtribes 

 are far less harsh and much to be preferred. 



[The omission of the comma has been the rule of this Journal since 

 1890, and the " provincial " use, though still retained by Kew, is now 

 generally abandoned. — 15. The "mis-statement" referred to, against 

 wliicli we have more than once protested, was made by direction of the 

 Kew authoi-ities, and contributors to the colonial Floras were directed 

 to follow the practice. — Ed. Jouiin. Bot.] 



COKNISH SPHAGNA. 

 By F. Rilstone. 



The sphagnum-bearing areas in the two Cornish vice-counties are 

 quite dissimilar. In East Cornwall (v.e. 2) the extensive Bodmin 

 Moors, with their outliers, resemble Dartmoor, and in many deep 

 bogs and pools thrive ix>bust green forms of the Subsecuuda and 

 various Qusjyidata forms, paHicularly the beautiful alga-like var. 

 phimosum of S. cuspidafum. In West Cornwall (v.c. 1), on the 

 contrar}^ Sphagna are found in small peaty moors left imtouched 

 when the lands were enclosed half a century or more ago. On these 

 moors the Guspidata i-arely occur, and tlie robust Stthsectnida, 

 though possibly in as great variety as in East Cornwall, are restricted 

 to springs and deep ditches. The small, delicate, brightly-coloured 

 forms of the group Suhsecunda, on the other hand, are often very 

 abundant. 



The distribution of fonns of the group Cymhifolia presents some 

 rather surprising features. >S'. cymhi folium, usually considered one of 

 the commonest of these plants, is by no means generally distribvited. 

 It appears to be of fairly fre([uent occurrence on the elevated moors 

 of East Cornwall and in the Land's End district, but I have not been 

 able to find it in the intervening area. Its distribution may thus be 

 expressed in terms of the geological formations as not uncommon on 

 .the granite, rare on or absent from the " killas." In a moor below 

 Helman Tor it grows in company with the rare aS'. siihhicolor, and 

 S. liakkodense occurs in both vice-counties. Against the eom|mra- 

 tive rarity of >S^. ci/mhifolium must be placed the abundance of 

 S. papillosum^ which in many robust and handsome forms of various 

 shades of green and brown is a striking feature of Cornish moors, 

 particularly in West Cornwall. 



So little has been written on the ecology of the 8pliagna that I 

 venture the following remarks. All the common Sphagnum forms in 

 Cornwall fall under one or other of the four groups Acutifolia, 

 Cusjndafa, ^Siibsficimda, and Ci/mhifolia. Of these the Cuspidata 

 are confined to the wettest moors and usually to elevated land where 

 they occupy the dee}')er pools and marshes. The Suhsecunda occupy 

 the extreme range of Sp)ha(/num habitats from the deep pools where 

 robust green forms luxuriate to the j^eaty borders of badly-drained 

 enclosures, where such forms as S. auriculatani var. tenellum and 



