A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
time. 4. Trichomanes has been found at Stafford Bridge, Luton Hoo 
and Cardington. Aspidium aculeatum is native but very local ; Eversholt, 
Flitwick, Potton and Chicksands have been returned as stations. The 
hart’s-tongue (Sco/opendrium) is not common ; for many years it has grown 
in a well at Elstow, and it has been found on Newnham walls, at 
Lidlington, Luton Hoo and Toddington. Polypodium cristatum was noted 
by Abbot at Potton and Aspley, but Lastrea spinulosa was probably meant, 
and it has several modern stations. LL. u/iginosa was certified as correct 
by Dr. F. A. Lees, being found by McLaren at Flitwick in 1885. 
L. Thelypteris grew on Potton Marsh in Abbot’s time, and the name 
occurs in Hillhouse’s list, 1876, which also includes L. dilatata without 
station. The adder’s tongue (Opsiog/ossum) is widely distributed, but the 
moonwort (Botrychium), which Abbot found in Oakley West Field, is 
apparently extinct, as is also the royal fern (Osmunda), which formerly 
grew in Aspley Wood, and of late years has been found at Little Brick- 
hill just outside the county boundary. 
THE HORSETAILS (Eguisetacee)' 
The great horsetail (E. maximum) is generally found on marshes, 
especially in the north, but is rarer in the south. The mud-horsetail 
(E. Amosum) is frequent on bogs, and Mr. Saunders gives the Ivel near 
Sandy as a station for the var. fuviatile, which Mr. Hillhouse also met 
with. Abbot recorded E. syemale at Potton and Ampthill, and E. sy/- 
vaticum at Haynes Wood, but there has been no recent confirmation of 
either. 
MARSILIACE 
None have been found in the county. 
THE MOSSES (Musci)? 
As Bedfordshire is an inland county and possesses no mountains the 
following moss list of some 160 species and varieties is not so extensive 
and varied as it might be with different physical features. The sphag- 
nums or bog mosses are found only on the Lower Greensand formation, 
which stretches across the middle of the county. The most noteworthy 
species in the list are Dicranum montanum and Hypnum Sendtneri, the latter 
of which it is feared has recently been exterminated through the plough- 
ing up of its only known station. 
The nomenclature and arrangement is that of the London Catalogue, ed. 
2 (see, South Bedfordshire Mosses,’ J. Saunders, ‘Yourn. Botany, xxii. 47). 
SPHAGNACEE SPHAGNACEZ (continued ) 
Sphagnum acutifolium, Ehrh. Sphagnum intermedium, Hoffm. 
var. tenue — cuspidatum, Ehrh. 
» rubellum var. riparioides 
— fimbriatum, Wils. — cymbifolium, Ehrh. 
— squarrosum, Lind. var. squarrosulum 
var. laxum 
! By J. Hamson, Bedford. 
2 By James Saunders, Luton. 
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