TORTULACE^E.] 226 [Tortuld. 



hib. P. 2, 26 (1836). DE NOT. in Mem. ac. Torin. xl, 290 (1838), Syllab. 171 (1838), 

 Muse. ital. I, 35, t. 14 (1862), Epil. bri. ital. 538 (1869). WILS. Bry. brit. 134, t. 12 

 (1855). BERK. Handb. br. m. 250, t. 22, f. 4 (1863). LINDB. de Tort. 246 (1864). 

 HOBK. Syn. br. m. 71 (1873). 



Syntrichia ruralis BRID. in Schrad. Journ. iii, P. 2, p. 299 (1801), Mant. 98 (1819), Bry. 

 univ. i, 584 (1826). WEB. MOHR Bot. Tasch. 215 (1807). VOIT Muse. herb. 52 (1812). 

 Mart. Fl. cr. erl. 88 (1817). SCHULTZ Recens. 229, t. 34, f. 3 (1823). HUEBEN. Muse, 

 germ. 338 (1833). JURATZ. Laubm. oesterr.-ung. 143 (1882). 



Dioicous ; in loose tall expanded tufts, ferruginous below, deep 

 green and hoary above, dichotomously branched. Leaves remote, 

 crowded at apex, carinate, from a long erect subvaginant base, recurvo- 

 squarrose from the middle, appressed and twisted when dry, oblong, 

 elongated, apex rounded or emarginate, margin revolute almost to 

 apex ; nerve red, excurrent in a flexuose hoary spinulose arista ; cells at 

 base rectangular, hyaline, above soft, hexagonal, coarsely papillose. 

 Seta long, purple at base, yellowish above, calyptra large, fuscescent ; 

 caps, erect, elongated, cylindraceous, a little curved, brown, pachyder- 

 mous ; annulus double, lid red, suboblique, elongate-conic ; per. very 

 long, the lower half tubular, pale, spirally tessellated, teeth purple, 

 contorted. 



Male plant more slender. Infl. terminal, gemmaceous, inner bracts 

 ovate, nerved, submuticous. 



HAB. On old thatched roofs, sandy banks and walls ; rarely on trunks of 

 trees, common. Fr. 4 5. 



Var. /3. arenicola Braithw. 



Plants taller, more slender, yellow-green. Leaves more distant, longer, 

 of thinner texture, becoming narrowed toward the apex, the point shortly 

 acuminate in a scarious membrane, prolonged on the arista and sometimes 

 denticulate at the margin. 



SYN. Barbtda ruraliformls BESCH. in Musci Gall. n. 457. HUSNOT Mouss. nord-ouest 

 2 ed. 79. 



HAB. Sandy ground near the coast. 



St. Andrew's Links (Braithwaite 1865) ! ! Southport (Holt 1879) ! ! Cromer (H. N. 

 Dixon 1884) ! ! 



The recurved leaves with revolute margins best distinguish this species, 

 and Lindberg also describes as peculiar to it two longitudinal plaits, just 

 within the margin of the leaf. Barbula pulvinata JURATZ. is intermediate 

 between montana and mralis, though the structure of the leaf agrees better 

 with the latter, of which it must probably be regarded as a variety. 



Tortula norvegica (WEB. 1804). Bavbula aciphylla BRUCH SCHIMP. 1842, is 

 a close ally of ruralis resembling our Var. ft. but has a green nerve running 

 out into a reddish brown rigid arista only faintly spinulose. It is confined to 

 mountain regions, but may turn up here as it reaches to the Dovrefjeld and 

 Lapland. 



