r 



44 



THE SPHAGNACE^ OR PEAT-MOSSES OF 



of the branches, beautiful yellow-green colour, and leptodermous 

 capsules ; and it also often grows intermixed with other species. 

 The name tenellum was first applied to this species, we are in- 

 formed by Professor Lindberg, by Ehrhart, as indicated by a spe- 

 cimen in the St. Petersburg herbarium, and the same species 

 received the same name from Persoon, as proved by a specimen 

 from him, preserved in Swartz's herbarium, and a description 

 is given by Bridel hi his Mantissa Muscorum (1819); but the 

 plant does not appear to have been well understood by the older 

 authors, as small forms of various species appear under the name 

 tenelhim in their herbaria ; that figured as tenellum in the Bryo- 

 logia Germanica evidently belongs to Sph. acutifolhim. Bridel also 

 admits Sph. nwlluscum into the Bryol. Universay but he only copied 

 the description of Bruch without having seen the plant. 



Var. )8. longifolium, Lindb. 



Plants shorter, more densely tufted, with crowded branches, and 

 of a lurid or dingy green colour. Stem leaves longer, the hyaline 

 cells fibrillose throughout. Branches more attenuated, with longer, 

 narrower, and more pointed leaves. 



Synon. — Braithw. Sphag. Brit. Exsic. n. 12. 



Hab. — Finland: Helsingfors (Lindberg). England: Stansfield Moor, Tod- 

 morden (Nowell, 1846); Cam Gr.lva Moor, Plymouth (Curnow, 18G1); Staveley, 

 Westmoreland (Barnes, 1878). 



This has a different aspect from the typical state of the plant^ 

 owing to its colour being usually of a dirty white ; it also appears 

 to be much rarer than the ordinary plant. 



Var. y. Jluitans, Schimp. 



Very long and slender, without any pendent branches, all the 

 leaves remote ; perichsetia scattered throughout the stem, pseudo- 

 podia very long. 



Synon. — Schimp. Torfm. t. xii. f. 6, 7, 8 ; Synops. Muse. p. 682. 



Sph. nwlluscum var. fi. immersum, Schimp. Synops. Muse. ed. 2, p. 846 (1876). 



Hab. — In stagnant water of the Marais des Fonts in the Swiss Jura (Lesquereux). 

 6. Sphagnum laricinum, Spruce. 



Pl. VII. AND VIII. 



Dioicous, yellowish or pale brownish green ; the stem with 

 2-3 layers of cuticular cells. Stem leaves small, ovato-triangular, 

 minutely fimbriate at apex. Branch leaves subsecund, recurved 

 at point, ovate, pointed, 3-5 toothed at apex ; hyaline cells with 



* "utimi 



