62 



TUE SPHAGNA CE^ OR FEAT-MOSSES OF 



11 



» 



Var. t,. teres (Angstr.), Schimp. PI, XV. 



Dioicous ; more slender, pale yellowish green or pale ferru- 

 ginous. Stems slender, 5-8 in. high, pale rufous red. Ramuli 

 attenuated, their leaves closely imbricated, recurved at points. 

 Male inflorescence turgid, fuscescent, seated in the middle of the 

 upper divergent branches, ending in a paler, elongated, sterile 

 point. 



Synon.— .§!'/;. teres, Angstrom, in Hartm. Skand. Fl. ed. 8, p. 417 (1861). 

 LiNDB. in dfv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. xix. p. 138, n, 6. Milde, Bryol. Siles. p. 388. 

 ScHLiEPHACKE, in Veih. Z. B. Gesel. Wien, 1865, p. 399. Klinggr. in Schr. der 

 K. Phys. CEk. Gesel. zu Konigs. 1872, p. 7. Braithw. in Monthl. Micr. Journ. 

 July, 1874, p. 12, t. 68. SuLLiv. Icon. Muse. Suppl. p. 13, t. 4 (1875). Schimp. 

 Synops. ed. 2, p. 836. 



S^/i. porosum, Lindb. Mss. olim. 



Sph. squarrostnn var. y. teres, Schimp. Torfm. p. 64, et Synops. ed. i, p. 677. 

 Russow, Beitr. Torfm. p. 64. Braithw. Sphag. Brit. Exsic. n. 29, 30. 



Hab. — Marshy heaths in subalpine districts. Not rare. 



Europe. — Lapland: At Lycksele (Angstrom), and many other places. Sweden, 

 Norway, Finland, Holland, Westphalia, Silesia, Brandenburg, Prussia. England : 

 Knutsford Moor, Wybunbury Bog, and Newchurch Bog, Cheshire (Wilson) ; Staveley, 

 Westmoreland (Stabler); Dent, Yorkshire (Barnes). Scotland: Doune, Perthshire 

 (McKinlay) ; Ben Ledi (Stirton) ; Sidlaw Hills (Gardiner). 



N. America. — Closter and Southern New Jersey (Austin). 



Although in external appearance, colour, and habit, this plant 

 looks very different from Sph. sqtiarrosum, and is so regarded by 

 most of the leading bryologists, it will be found on careful examina- 

 tion to present not a single point of structural distinction, by which 

 they can be separated. 



The plants are shorter and of denser habit, but the perichaetial 

 and stem leaves, although a little narrower, agree precisely in areo- 

 lation ; the branch leaves indeed are ordinarily not squarrose, but 

 we constantly meet with stems which have the lower branches 

 more or less squarrose-leaved, while the upper retain their normal 

 direction, and if we examine growing tufts of the plant, it is quite 

 common to find the central stems normal, while those at the cir- 

 cumference of the patch have all their branches squarrose-leaved. 

 The dioicous inflorescence and the elongated sterile termination to 

 the antheridial branches are the sole differential characters. 



It also resembles the robust forms of Sph. aciitifolium, but has 

 stouter and more closely imbricated branch leaves, and the stem 

 leaves are quite distinct. 



Professor Lindberg has pointed out that, like squarrosnm, the 



