284 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



BOTANY NEAR LIVERPOOL. 



By J. A. Wheldon. 



'THE extensive sand-dunes of the Lancashire 

 coast are a well-known happy hunting-ground 

 for the botanist, owing to the variety of interesting 

 plants they produce. These sandhills are more 

 especially attractive to the muscologist, from the 

 fact of their yielding in abundance a number of 

 species of our rarer mosses, one or two of which, 

 strangely enough, are usually Alpine or at least 



Fig. 1.— a, Hypnum filicinum (f natural size); b, Leaf (much 

 magnified); f, Apex of Branch (enlarged). 



sub-Alpine in their range of distribution. Abundant 

 food for the speculative mind is provided by the 

 discovery of such plants as Catoscopium nigritum, 

 Amblyodon dealbatus, Meesia uliginosa, and Ditrichum 

 flexicaule in such a locality. 



To the south of Southport one or two stations 

 for rare plants are likely to be lost on account of 

 the encroachments of the speculative builder. 

 Where, two years ago, I collected abundance of 

 Meesia uliginosa now stands a modern villa, and I 

 have not yet found a fresh locality for the moss ; 

 and Amblyodon occurs in only a few places, where 

 it ekes out a very precarious existence. 



A further extension of the Birkdale "improve- 

 ments " will destroy a splendid patch of collecting 

 ground, on which occurs Bartsia viscosa, Viola 

 curtisii, Pyrola rotundijolia, var., maritima, Euphorbia 

 paralias, Epipactis palustris, Pamassia palustris, 

 Festuca nniglumis, and other more uncommon 

 phanerogams, and of mosses Hypnum polygamum, 

 H. lycopodioides, H. sendtneri, var. wilsoni, Bryum 

 calophyllum , B. warnenm, etc. 



On this particular spot, since 1891, I have 

 observed, in one or two pools only, a peculiar form 

 of Hypnum filicinum. So much does it differ in facies 

 from the ordinary plant, that for a long time I did 

 not recognise it, and specimens laid in my herbarium 

 without a name. It is to the kindness of my 

 friend, Mr. John Whitehead, that I am indebted 

 for its determination as a form of this species. 



Should it prove worthy of varietal rank, and not 

 have yet received a name, it would be a graceful 

 compliment to one of our most enthusiastic 

 bryologists if it could be named in his honour. 

 His devotion to the study of British mosses de- 

 serves this recognition. It is distinguished as 

 follows : Stem erect, somewhat tall and slender, 

 altogether more gracile than that of typical filicinum, 

 growing in densely csespitose tufts, scarcely at all 

 pinnate, many stems being almost or quite destitute 

 of branches. When branched the pinnse are not 

 so crowded nor so patent as in the type. The tufts 

 are tawny yellow, not even the young shoots being 

 green. Leaves longer, narrower and more laxly 

 arranged on the stem, not at all secund or falcate, 

 erect patent even to the extremities of the branches. 

 Nerve reaching apex, and occasionally ex-current ; 

 margins entire, or very minutely sub-serrulate. 

 The entire absence of any tendency in the leaves 

 to become falcate or secund, and the long slender 

 stems give the plant a very untypical appearance. 

 In the sketches I have endeavoured to reproduce 

 these differences; but, I fear, not very successfully. 

 I have not yet discovered fruiting specimens. It 

 appears to me to diverge from the type more than 



Fig 2. — a, H. filicinum variety (§ natural size); b. Leaf (much 

 magnified) ; c, Apex of Branch (enlarged). 



do a good many mosses which have varietal names 

 bestowed upon them. 



Erythroea latifolia appears to be quite extinct on 

 the Lancashire coast now. Bartsia viscosa is very 

 rare, and other decreasing species are seen in 

 Cakile maritima, Viola curtisii, Silene maritima, 

 Anagallis tenella, Epipactis palustris, the Pyrola, 

 Scirpus maritimus, and Hypnum lycopodioides. 



It is more pleasant to record the occurrence of 

 new species than to refer to the disappearance of 



