98 HISTORY OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



2)his.) Stems very short ; leaves few, linear, slightly incras- 

 sated upwards, those of the perichsetium ovate, obtuse ; cap- 

 sule ovate. — Eng. Fl.p. 14. Georgia ovata. Mull. Syn. pt. 1 . 

 p. 181. 



Eocks, generally of sandstone, growing chiefly on such 

 as have their surfaces looking downwards. Pr. Summer. 

 Whole plant of a brownish colour and rigid habit. The 

 two forms of leaves mark it very distinctly, those that belong 

 to the barren stem being peculiarly linear, and somewhat 

 thickened upwards at times, with one or two clefts. When 

 growing on granite these are said to be absent, and this is 

 . recognized by some botanists as the only distinction be- 

 tween it and T. ovata, found on the Continent. 



SPLACHNUM, Linn. (Splachnum.) 



This name was originally applied by Dioscorides to a 

 genus of Lichens, probably Sticta, and subsequently adopted 

 by Linnseus for this family. A natural group of Mosses, 

 interesting chiefly from their elegant capsules, furnislied with 

 their peculiar apophyses, or struma, and the remarkable 

 habits most of the species affect, to which we have referred 

 in speaking of their plaep'-s of growth. There are two 



