176 DICRANUM UNDULATUM AS A NATIVE OF ENGLAND. 
and has its leaves somewhat contorted or crisped. and a good deal more 
strongly undulated than usual ; and to D. palustre it is to be feared 
will have to be referred all the Britibhpsowh specimens bearing the 
name of D. undulatum, with the exception of some two or three, 
which appertain unmistakably to D. scoparium. 
For the sake of distinction the present moss might be called variety 
rugifolium, if it be sorey worth while to take so much notice of a 
plant that occurs only in a barren state, and probably owes such 
characters as it possesses ably to local influence. A very similar 
form o same species, and almost as strongly marked, has been 
m 
gathered repeatedly by my friend, Mr. Barnes, in Westmoreland, 
re it grows upon ay limestone rocks ; a very singular habitat for 
a species called pees 
When barren mosses are under ie 5 rea it is very difficult to 
name them rightly, and very easy to fall into a mistake ; but if I have 
rightly apprehended the plants in question ad their proper features, 
the following characters will render it at all times easy to distinguish 
D. peers e from sg undulatum, and to determine even a barren tuft. 
Be canice as that more need not be said, but these two pene are in 
fact a great deal more liable to cai than is generally t thought, 
and they deserve attention from collector 
Dicranum palustre: tufts dense, soft, “easily yielding when com- 
pressed by the hand; “stems weak, flaccid; leaves erecto-patent and 
spreading, linear lanceolate, their basal angles mY ie! rounded, their 
apices with saw-like teeth, their texture soft, flaccid ; the oor lax; 
undulations varying m uch, being sometimes strong and obvious, some- 
times almost aches ‘ fruitstalks solitary, capsules subcernuous, 
D. undulatum . tafta more lax, incoherent above, firm and strong; 
stems strong and woody ; leaves widely spreading and recurved, linear 
lanceolate above, oblong below, their basal angles cordate and decur 
horizon 
Of course there are other characters: I only give the salient _ 
most of them requiring nothing more than the nae eye to 
them. e i op eak of Be 
tomentum which covers the stem of D. palustre as cometine whitish ; 
but in all the specimens that I have seen it is rusty-red of saci 
brown, sate D. undulatum besides being much i copious i 
as far specimens extend to be white on the new stems 
3 aie turning dark brown and blackish on those of past seasons 
Probably this is a ehieieie that varies 
