PoLYTRiCHACE^.] 53 [Polytrichum. 



convex-conic reddish base, with a thick yellowish oblique beak. 

 Peristome of 64 short unequal teeth, pale with an orange median line. 

 Epicarpic membrane minutely quadrate-areolate, with some minute 

 stomata below. 



Male plants intermixed ; bracts subquadrate, pointed, the nerve 

 with a few lamellae at apex, paraphyses spathulate. 

 Hab. — Wet hollows on the higher Scotch mountains. Fr. 8 — g. 



Ben Nevis, Ben Macdhui and others of the Cairngorm range, fruiting sparingly. Ben 

 Lawers, barren. 



Schwaegrichen, Aongstroem and the British bryologists refer this 

 species to P. septmtrionale Swartz, which appears without doubt to be only a 

 variety of P. alpinum that has been confounded with it ; (see Bridel Bry. 

 univ. ii, pp. 132 et 146 for a clear exposition of the subject). 



6. POLYTRICHUM GRACILE Dicks. 



Dioicous ; densely csespitose. Leaves shorter, lineal-lanceolate, 

 the wings thin, pellucid, erect, sharply serrate. Capsule ovate, obscurely 

 6-angled, narrowed at mouth ; lid large, with a long slightly obliquate 

 beak. (T. VII, B.) 



Syn. — Polytrichum gracile Dicks. MSS. Menz. in Trans. Lin. See. iv, 73, t. 6, fig. 3 (1798). 

 Hull Br. Flor. P. 2, 247 (1799). Smith F1. Brit, iii, 1374 (1804) ; Eng. Bot. t. 1827. 

 Turn. muse. Hib. 85 (1804). Web. Mohr Bot. Tasch. 222 (1807). Mart. F1. crypt. 

 Erl. 83 {1817). ScHWAEGR. Suppl. II, 167, t. 148 (1824). Brid. Bry. univ. ii, 154. (1827). 

 WalLr. F1. crypt, germ, i, 201 (1831). Hueeen. Muse. germ. 530 {1833). De Not. 

 Syll. muse. n. 208 (1838). Br. Schimp. Bry. Eur. iv, Mon. 10, t. xii (1844) ; Syn. muse. 

 444 (i860), et 2 ed. 540 (1876). C. Muell. Syn. muse, i, 225 {1849). Wils. Bry. Brit. 

 210, t. 46 (1855). Berk. Handb. Br. m. 208 (1863). Lindb. in Not. ur Sails. Fn. et Fl. 

 fenn. forh. ix, 127 (1867). De Not. Epil. Briol. Ital. 332 (i86g). Milde Bry. Siles. 

 250 (i86g). HusN. Mouss. nord-ouest 137 (1873). Hobk. Syn. br. m. 103 (1873). 



Pol. longisetum Sv/Tz. Disp. muse. Suec. 76, ii. 4, et 103, n. 16, t. 8, f. 16 (1799). Brid. 

 Sp. Muse. I, 59 (1806); Mant. muse. 197 (i8ig). Schultz Fl. Starg. 286 (1806). 

 Roehl. Deutsch. Fl. iii, 69, et in Ann. Wett. Ges. iii, 220 (1814). Schwaegr. Suppl. I, 

 P. II, 3it5 (1816). FuNCK Moostasch. 6g, t. 56 (1821). 



Pol. aurantiacum Hoppe Bot. Tasch. 1800, pp. 139 et 151. Wahlenb. Fl. Lapp. 345 (1812). 

 Pol. marginatum Wahl. MSS. Web. Mohr Ind. mus. pi. crypt. {1803). Brid. Sp. muse. 

 i, 59 (1806). Schwaegr. Suppl. I, P. II, 329, n. 24, p.p. (1816). 



Pol. attenuatum var. p. aurantiacum Turn. Muse. hib. 84 (1804). 

 Pol. nigrescens Lam. DeC. Fl. franc. 3 ed. ii, 490 {1805). 



Pol. commune var. /8. attenuatum Hook. Tayl. Muse. brit. 26, p.p. {1818). Var. /3. auran- 

 tiacum Wahlenb. Fl. suec. ii, 737, p.p. (1826). 



Pol. formosum var, /3. aurantiacum Hartm. Skand FI.404 (1820). 



Dioicous ; densely caespitose, cohering by radicular tomentum. 

 Stems I — 4 in. high, erect, slender, simple, dividing from a strongly 

 flexuose and tomentose base. Leaves sub-erect, shorter, dark green, 

 from a sheathing base, somewhat channelled, lineal-lanceolate, with a 

 short brown point, the wings thin, pellucid, erect, sharply serrate, 

 rough at back of apex ; lamellae abount 42, higher, each in section 



