56 THE SPHAGNACE& OR PEATMOSSES OF 



This is the compact form of the species, and is always of small 

 size and dingy hue. It strangely got mixed in my Exsiccata with 

 Sph. acutifolium var. archim, from which it may be readily dis- 

 tinguished by the structure of the stem leaves. 



10. Sphagnum rigidum (N. v. Esenb.), Schpr. 



Pl. xiii. 



Monoicous ; in dense whitish tufts, tinged with glaucous green 

 or rufous. Stem with 2-3 strata of cuticular cells. Stem leaves 

 very small, broadly ovate, the apex rounded, erose. Leaves of 

 divergent branches, ovate-oblong, very concave ; the margin in- 

 flexed ; the apex truncate and toothed ; hyaline cells reticulose 

 fibred, the chlorophyllose central, compressed. 



Svnon. — Sph. compactum (3. rigidum, Nees, Hsch. St. Bryol. Germ. i. p. 14, 

 t. 2, f. 5* (1823). Brid. Bryol. Univ. i. p. 17 (1826). C. Mi)ll. Synops. i. p. 99 



(1849 • 



Sph. immersum, Nees, Hsch. St. Bry. Germ. i. p. n, t. 2, f. 4. Brid. Bry. 

 Univ. i. p. 9. 



Sph. ambiguum, HDben. Muse. Germ. p. 25 (1833). 



Sph. rigidum, Schimp. Torfm. p. 65, t. 18 (1858); Synops. p. 678 (i860), et 

 ed. 2, p. 839 (1876). Lindb. in Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. xix. p. 139, n. 8 (1862). 

 Russow, Torfm. p. 77 (1865). Milde, Bryol. Siles. p. 390 (1869). Hartm. 

 Skand. Fl. Schlieph. in Verh. Z. B. Gesel. Wien, 1865, p. 401. Klingg. in 

 Schr. der K. Phys. CEk. Gesel. zu Konigs. 1872, p. 9. Braithw. Sphag. Brit. Exs. 

 n. 23 (1877). 



Monoicous ; in dense, rather rigid tufts, glaucous green above, 

 whitish below. Stems erect, dark brown or blackish, 4-10 in. high, 

 densely ramulose, usually 2, sometimes 3-4 partite ; cuticular 

 cells small, non-porose, in 2-3 strata ; cells of the peripheral 

 layers dark reddish brown. Stem leaves minute, erect, inserted 

 obliquely, from a broad base, ovate, or obtusely triangular, with a 

 rounded erose apex, minutely auricled ; areolation lax and rhom- 

 boidal in the middle, with a broad border of thin narrow cells, 

 all without fibres or pores, or with the apical cells fibrose and 

 porose, and a few fibres in the basal cells. 



Ramuli 3-4 in a fascicle, short, 1-2 erecto-patent, obtuse, the 

 others flagelliform, slender, lax-leaved ; cuticular cells larger, the 

 porose scarcely distinct from the rest. Leaves of the divergent 

 branches quinquefarious, from an ascending base, erecto-patent, 

 rigid when dry, ovate-oblong, very concave, somewhat cucullate 

 at apex, but when flattened out, more or less truncate and obtusely 



