78 NECKERA. 



N. pumila. Hedw. St. Cr. v. 3. t. 20. Engl. Bot. t. 1443. Mouff. tt 

 Nestl n. 429. Hypnum pennatum. Dicks. Fontinalis pennata. Huds. 

 HAB. Woods in Sussex. Very abundant in the New Fo- 

 rest, Hampshire. Rare in Scotland. 



This, which is always found upon trees, has been till 

 lately supposed to be confined to the British isles. But it 

 has now been discovered in France, in Switzerland, and in 

 Lapland. In size it is thrice as small as JV. crispa, and 

 much branched in a pinnated manner, and so much resem- 

 bling Hypnum complanatum that we have received this 

 latter plant with the name of our Neckera from various cor- 



<; respondents. The leaves, however, under a microscope will 

 be found of a different figure, and they are slightly undu- 

 late, especially when dry. The perichaetial leaves are long, 

 very convolute, ovate, much acuminated, and the fruitstalks 

 are but in a slight degree exserted beyond them. The cap- 

 sules are ovate, a little inclining to cylindrical. Neckera 

 pennata, which, though not a native of Britain, is much 

 more abundant on the continent than N. pumila, may be 



\ known by its larger size, longer and more plane leaves, and 

 above all, by its nearly sessile and wholly immersed cap- 

 sule. 



2. JV. crispa; leaves oblong, acuminulate, transversely rugose; 

 fruitstalks much exserted; capsule ovate. (TAB. XXII.) 



N. crispa. Hedw. Sp. Muse. Turn. Muse. Hib. p. 101. Moug. et 

 Nestl. n. 429. Hypnum crispum. Linn. Engl. Bot. t. 617- DiU* 

 Muse. t. 36. f. 12. 



HAB. On trees and on rocks in subalpine countries, espe- 

 cially in a calcareous soil. 



Scarcely any moss can exceed the present in beauty. Its 

 size, being often from 6 to 8 inches in length, its regularly 

 pinnated branches, its large, shining and crisped leaves, have 

 more the appearance of some of the fine tropical mosses 

 than of those of our own country, where it is far from un- 

 common in the mountainous districts, and frequently covers 

 a great extent of surface upon the trunks of old forest-trees. 

 In this as well as in the preceding species the extremity of 

 the leaves is, under a magnifying power, slightly serrated. 

 The present has the fruitstalks much exserted, in which it 

 differs strikingly from N. pumila ; and the capsule is ovate 

 approaching to spherical. 



