Sphagnum.-] GYMNOSTOMI. 11 



its spherical fruit. The leaves too, are much less recurved at the 

 margins than in that plant ; and these leaves often partake of a 

 reddish tint. 

 11. P. ctirvicollum; leaves narrow-ovate acuminated, capsule 



globose, fruitstalk curved. (TAB, V.) 



P. curvicollum. Hedw. St. Cr. v. 1. t. 11. Dicks. Crypt. Fasc. 2. 



p. 1. Smith, Fl Brit. p. 1153. Engl. Bot. t. 905. (not 330.; 



Schwaegr. Suppl. v. I. p. 7. Moug. et Nestl. n. 606. Funck, Deutschl 



Moose, t. 1. n. 13. Hobson, Brit. Mosses, v. 2. n. 5. Nees et Hornsch. 



Bryol. Germ. v. 1. p. 55. t. 5.f. 12. Am. Disp. Muse. p. 8. 

 HAB. Moist banks. England. 



From P. cmpidatum this may be known by its lengthened 

 fruitstalk, and from P. rectum by the curvature of that stalk, 

 and by the more flexible, longer, and more acuminated leaves. 

 Both in this and the last mentioned species, the capsule is 

 furnished with a decided columella. 



Div. III. GYMNOSTOML 



(MOUTH OF THE CAPSULE DESTITUTE OF A PERISTOME.) 

 III. SPHAGNUM. 



GEN. CHAR. Receptacle pedunculated, its peduncle resembling 

 a fruitstalk. Capsule sessile, entire, its lid deciduous, 

 its mouth naked ; Calyptra irregularly torn. (TAB. I.) 



In this as well as in Andr&a the Capsule is sessile, being 

 entirely destitute of a real fruitstalk. That which has been 

 generally considered as such, is the footstalk of the recep- 

 tacle, which in most of the Sphagna is so much lengthened out 

 as greatly to exceed the perichaetial leaves. All the species, as 

 they are at present considered, were by Linnaeus and the older 

 Botanists comprised under the name of S. palustre ; and most 

 assuredly, if we take into consideration the number of intermedi- 

 ate varieties that have recently been discovered and described, 

 especially by the German Botanists, we shall observe such a 

 regular gradation, from the broadest and straightest leaved in- 



