238 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [OCTOBER 
The student who undertakes the study of Amblystegium 
must do so with the understanding that he is dealing with a 
group of exceedingly variable species with many intermediate 
forms, and must treat them accordingly or meet with disappoint- 
ment inthe end. After long study I am fully convinced that 
the genus will always prove a troublesome one to the systematist. 
HISTORICAL. 
The genus Amblystegium was established by Bruch, Schim- 
per, and Giimbel in their Bryologia Europea in 1853, with sixteen 
species, including Campylium polygamum and Hypnum kneiffit. 
Of these, A. serpens and A. riparium were known to Linnaeus 
and Dillenius as Hypnum. A. fluviatile was described by 
Swartz in 1799 as Hypnum fluviatile, and figured under the same 
name two years later by Hedwig. Haller described A. subtile 
under the name 7. minimum in 1768. Hedwig (1801) referred 
it to Leskea as L. subtilis. In this he was followed by Bridel in 
1827. A. confervoides was described by Bridel in 1812 as A. 
confervoides, and figured by Schweegrichen in 1826 under the name 
Hi. conferva. A. radicale was first described and figured by 
Hedwig in 1801 as Leskea varia, and referred to Amblystegium 
by Bruch, Schimper and Giimbel, who adopted the specific name 
applied in 1805 by Palisot de Beauvois to a moss somewhat 
similar in appearance and supposed to be identical but belong- 
ing elsewhere. A. subenerve, A. kochii, A. enerve, A. oligorrhizon, 
A. curvipes, and A. tenuissimum were established by the authors 
of the Bryologia Europea. In 1845 Spruce sent a moss to Bruch 
who in a letter named it Leskea sprucet. This is A. sprucet of 
Bry. Eur. A. irriguum was described and figured by Wilson in 
1855 as Hypnum irriguum. 
Wilson in the third edition of Bryologia Brittanica (1855) 
did not recognize the genus Amblystegium, choosing to refer 
the species so named by the authors of Bry. Eur. to Hypnum 
and Leskea. Schimper however maintains Amblystegium in 
both editions of his Synopsis Muscorum Europeorum, excluding 
in the first (1860) A. polygamum, A. kneiffii, and A. subenerve, 
