434 Mr. Edward Forster on Bryum annotinum. 



volume of ' English Botany ' comprising two very distinct 

 species ; the barren figure only belongs to Bryum annotinum, 

 the others in fruit being evidently Bryum capillar e. It may 

 be supposed, that as Mr. Wilson has lately communicated to 

 the editors of the ^ Supplement to English Botany' specimens 

 "with capsules, this singular gemmiferous moss will gain pro- 

 per attention ; but as this eminent botanist has given no re- 

 ference except to Hedwig and Bridel, I fear the confusion will 

 be rather perpetuated. It may not therefore be thought amiss 

 to point out the following synonyms. 



Brjmm annotinum, Huds., 490 ; Hedw. Sp. Muse, 183. t. 43 ; Smith, 

 Fl. Brit., 1378 ; Hull, 255 ; Sij)th., 291 ; Turn. Muse. Hib., 123 ; 

 Engl. Bot., vol. xxvi. 1862 (the barren stem with leaf and gemma 

 under it) ; Sitppl., vol. iii. 2856 ; Swartz, Muse. Suee., 50; Roth. 

 Germ., vol. iii. 232 ; Bridel. Br. Un., vol. i. 662. 



Bryum annotinum, lanceolatura, pellucidum, capsulis pendulis. Dill. 

 Muse., 399. t. 50. f. 68. 



Mnium annotinum, Xmre. -S/?., pi. 1576; Weir, 1 51; With., 805 ; Hoff. 

 Germ., vol. ii. 215 ; Necker Meth., 232 ; Leers Herborn., 23, 



Trentepohlia erecta, iJof A. Catal.,yo\.\. 139 ; Hoff., vol. ii. 17. t. 14. 



In the ' British Flora/ vol. ii. p. 60, the fructified speci- 

 mens in * English Botany,' 1862, are properly referred to B. 

 cajnllare, and no notice is taken of B. annotinum. In the se- 

 cond edition of ' Muscologia Britannica,' p. 202, it is intro- 

 duced under B. turbina turn with, a mark of doubt ; in the first 

 edition of this work it does not occur, nor has Dr. Taylor in- 

 serted it in Mackay's ' Flora Hibernica,' although it is well 

 described in Dawson Turner's ' Muscologiae Hibernicae Spi- 

 cilegium.' 



I have formerly found this moss at Walthamstow in Essex, 

 in fruit, but more abundantly barren male plants with beau- 

 tiful gemmae in the axils of the leaves, red when ripe. Leers 

 describes them purple, I do not recollect that peculiar tinge ; 

 in dried specimens they usually fall ofi'. The botanical stu- 

 dent should be informed that Mr. Wilson's specific difference, 

 " stem very short ; leaves crowded, erect, lanceolate, nerved, 

 subserrulate at the apex ; capsule oblong-pyriform, pendulous; 

 lid convex, apiculate," applies only to the fertile plants, the 

 leaves on the barren stems being distant, never crowded. The 

 magnified figures are excellent, except in want of gemmos, it 

 being understood that all the leaves belong to the fertile 

 stems ; the unmagnified are not so satisfactory, the perichae- 

 tial leaves not being shown ; these are accurately represented 

 by Dillenius in his ' Historia Muscorura.' 



I cannot suppose that B. turUnaium is an enlarged variety 

 of this species growing in bogs ; if it were so, annotinum must 



