80 THE SPHAGNACE/E OR PEAT-MOSSES OF 



Male amentula fusiform, subclavate, ochraceous ; the bracts 

 ovate, acuminate. 



Hab. — Open moorlands, wet heaths, and spongy mountain bogs. Fr. July. 

 Europe and North America from the plains to the mountain region ; frequent. 



Professor Lindberg has satisfactorily settled the nomenclature 

 of both Sph. cuspidatum, Ehrh. and Sph. intermedium, Hoffm., 

 from an examination of original specimens of both authors preserved 

 at St. Petersburg ; Hoffmann's description is otherwise far too brief 

 for correct determination, and his var. /3 is to be referred to Sph. 

 acutifolium, Ehrh. 



Professor Schimper at first united his plant with the following 

 species, as Sph. mspidahmi, Ehrh., regarding the present as the 

 type and the other as a submersed variety, and moreover described 

 them as monoicous. The habit, texture, and general facies of the 

 two are so dissimilar, that they may generally be distinguished 

 without difficulty. The chief characters to be noted in Sph. inter- 

 medium are the pendent branches quite concealing the stem, the 

 indistinct cuticular cells, the branch leaves undulated and more or 

 less squarroso-recurved at point when dry, the broadly oblong, 

 apiculate, more densely areolate perichaetial bracts, the much 

 shorter cells in the border of the stem leaves, and the pale yellow 

 spores. 



The plant varies greatly in height and stoutness, as well as in 

 colour ; the latter is sometimes pale green above and white below, 

 but in the majority of cases it is yellowish green and often with 

 more or less of a golden yellow or fulvous tint, especially in the 

 comal branches, and in this form it may possibly be mistaken for 

 Sph. Lindbergii, while the green state is on the other hand quite as 

 likely to be taken for Sph. strictum. 



o 



Var. /3. riparium (Angstr.), Lindb. 



Plants robust, 9-18 in. high, deep dull green. Capitulum large, 

 with numerous very long drooping branches, all gradually attenu- 

 ated from the middle. Stem with the cuticular cells very in- 

 distinct. Stem leaves large, elongato-triangular, the apex obtuse 

 and toothed, or lacerate, or rounded and more or less fimbriate. 



Branch leaves closely imbricate, ovato-lanceolate, recurved at 

 apex when dry, the point elongated, consisting of flexuose chloro- 

 phyllose cells alone without any fibrillose. 



