PoLYTRiCHACE^.] 46 [Polytrichtiiit. 



linear-lingulate, obtuse, margin erect and remotely denticulate above, 

 convex at back and obscurely muricate below apex ; when dry adpresso- 

 incurved ; lamellae about 36, subundulate, rather high and somewhat 

 distant, each in section of 6 — 8 small, equal rounded cells. Seta purple, 

 often flexuose ; capsule ovato-globose, erect or inclined, pale olive, 

 turbinate when dry and contracted below the wide mouth ; lid convex, 

 protuberant, rostellate ; teeth 32, linear, obtuse, hyaline with a purple 

 median line. Calyptra cucullate, rufescent, scarce covering all capsule. 

 Columella cylindric. 



Male infl. cj-athiform, inner bracts obovato-lanceolate, the nerve 

 thin, with a few lamella at apex. 



Hab. — By roadsides, on sandy places on heaths and banks in woods. Not 

 uncommon, but much less frequent than the next species. Fr. 11 — 2. 



Var. p. Longisetum [Hampe) Lindb. 



Leaves longer, more linear. Seta much elongated ; capsule oval-oblong. 



Syn. — Pol. nanum var. /8. longisctum Hampe MSS. C. Muell. Synops. i, 204. 



Pogon. nanum var. y8. longisctum Br. Sch. Bry. eur. mon. 5, t. 7, f. j3. 



Pol. subrotundum var. j8. longisctum Lindb. op. cit. 143. 



Hab. — Near Virginia water, with the ordinary form (Braitlrwaitf, 1868) ! ! 



Near Penzance {Curnow) ! Bickleigh down {Holmes), Yanaton down, 



Devon [Brent). 



Several forms of this moss occur, one of which with linear, shorter, 

 eroso-denticulate leaves is the P. pumiluin Swartz and other old authors ; and 

 P. semidiaphanum Brid. only differs in the broader border of the leaf being 

 pale and thus more transparent ; P. subrotundum was also kept distinct from 

 P. nanum for a state in which the leaf was almost entire. In this species 

 alone, the inner membrane of the sporangium is in contact with the columella, 

 the cylindric form of which is evident by a transverse section of the capsule, 

 and is thus useful to distinguish this species from the next, in such a dubious 

 form as the var. longisetum. 



2. POLYTRICHUm ALOIDES Hedw. 



Dioicous ; stem short, simple or innovating. Leaves sheathing, 

 broadly lanceolate, subacute, sharply serrate at margin and back of 

 nerve. Capsule erect, oblongo-cylindric, lid conico-rostellate ; colu- 

 mella 4-winged. (T. VI, B.) 



Syn. — Polytrichum parvum, Aloes folio scrrato, capsulis oblongis Dill. Hist. muse. 429, t. 55, 

 f. 7 (1741) et Herb. 



Mnium polytrichoides var. /8. L. Sp. pi. ii, 1112 (1753). 



Ditto var. longifnictum Ehrh. in Hann, mag. 1780, 236. 



Pol. subrotutidum var. ^. HuDS. Fl. angl. 400 (1762). 



Pol. nanum Weiss Fl. gott. 173 (1770). Lightf. FI. Scot, ii, 701 (1777). Huds. op. 

 cit. 2 ed. 470 {1778). Sw. meth. muse. 26, p.p. (1781). Lindb. in not. ur Sallsk. Fn. 

 et. Fl. fenn. torh ix, 139 (1867). Var. fi. Leyss. Fl. hal. 2 ed. 263 (1783). 



