TORTULACE^E.] 184 [Ephemerum. 



2. EPHEMERUM MINUTISSIMUM Lindb. 



Leaves narrowly lanceolato-acuminate, nerveless, serrate. Capsule 

 emergent, castaneous, spores smooth. (T. XXVII, B.) 



S\N.- -Ephemerum serratum Var./2. angnstifolium Bry. eur. fasc. 42 (1849). SCHIMP. Synops. 



et alior. auct. p.p. 



Ephemerum minutissimum LINDB. in Not. ur Sails, pro Fn. Fl. fenn. fdrh. xiii, 411 (1874). 

 Ephemerum novale MITT, in litt. 



Dioicous, resembling E. serratum but much smaller. Leaves shorter, 

 erecto-patent or subsecund, narrowly lanceolate, channelled, attenuated 

 and flexuose at points, margin irregularly serrate above, cells more 

 elongated. Capsule emergent, leptodermous, pale castaneous, larger in 

 proportion to the size of plant, globose ovate with a conical point ; 

 calyptra irregularly split into several lobes ; spores smooth, smaller. 

 HAB. Ploughed fields. Fr. n. 



Near Hurstpierpoint (Mitten, 1845) ! ! 



Mr. Mitten's name had been engraved on the plate before its identity 

 with Lindberg's species had been determined. There is something in the 

 look of the plant, so different from that of E. serratum, that we think there 

 can be no doubt of its distinctness, while its small size has caused it to be 

 overlooked. 



3. EPHEMERUM INTERMEDIUM Mitt. 



Plants on much branched protonema. Leaves broadly lanceolate, 

 faintly nerved in the upper half only. Spores slightly rough. 

 (T. XXVII, C.) 



SYN. Ephemerum coharens p.p. SCHIMP. WILS. Bry. brit. 27. BERK. Handb. br. m. 304. 

 HOBK. 



Ephemerum intermedium MITT, in litt. 



Ephem. tenttinerve LINDB. MSS. 



Ephcm. serratum Var. y. prcecox JAEG. Ber. St. Gall, gesells. 1869, p. 99. 



Dioicous ; resembling E. serratum, the plants very small, on much 

 branched protonema. Leaves broadly lanceolate, coarsely serrate in 

 the upper half, the lower small, nerveless, upper elongated, narrowed 

 into a longish point composed entirely of the faint nerve, which is 

 wanting in the lower half of the leaf; cells at base lax, more chloro- 

 phyllose, upper firmer., narrower more incrassate. Caps, reddish brown, 

 globose, apiculate ; cal. deeply cleft on one side, with 2 3 lacerations 

 at base ; spores large, granulose. 

 HAB. Fallow fields, rare. Fr. 10 12. 



Hurstpierpoint (Mitten 1847) ! ! Exposed mud of pond at Pondleigh (Mitten). Near 

 Brighton and several places in the Weald of Sussex (Davies 1858) ! ! 



This moss is nearer to E. serratum than to the next species, and as the 

 two sometimes grow together, it is probable that Schimper was thus led 

 astray, and his remarks at p. 4 of the Synopsis 2 ed. explained ; Wilson 

 evidently did not distinguish it. 



