76 HANDBOOK OP BRITISH MOSSES. 



stems prostrate or ascending, sometimes forked above, some- 

 times irregularly branched or imperfectly pinnate; leaves 

 lanceolate or ovato-lanceolate, plicate, straight, or rarely 

 slightly secund when the branchlets are curved, minutely 

 toothed above; nerve vanishing a little below the summit; 

 cells very narrow and elongated ; fruit abundant ; fruitstalk 

 cylindrical, elongated, granulated; sporangium oblique, ob- 

 longo-cylindrical, cernuous, slightly curved when old; lid 

 conical, decidedly rostrate. 



The decidedly plicate leaves, scabrous fruitstalk, and ros- 

 trate lid are the distinguishing characters of this species. 



2. H. nitens, Schreb. ; stems erect, tomentose, tufted ; 

 leaves erecto-patent, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, plicate; 

 nerve reaching more than halfway; sporangium cernuous, 

 curved ; lid conical. — Hook. §• Wils. t. xxv. ; Eng. Bot. t. 

 1646. ; (Plate 4, fig. 6) ; Moug. $ Nest. n. 517. 



In marshy, boggy ground, and peat bogs, rarely bearing fruit 

 in England, though in some parts of the Continent it is abun- 

 dant. Fruit ripe in summer. 



Dioicous; forming erect, yellow-green or tawny, shining 

 tufts, 1^-3 inches high, irregularly pinnate; stems clothed 

 with purplish, branched, articulated threads ; branches sharp- 

 pointed ; leaves erecto-patent, lanceolate, strongly acuminate 

 above, entire, deeply grooved, with a nerve reaching nearly to 

 the summit ; margin even or slightly recurved ; cells very nar- 

 row ; fruitstalk elongated, growing towards the top of the stems, 

 even; sporangium strongly curved, cernuous, reddish-brown, 

 or party-coloured ; lid conical, acute. 



Easily recognized from the last by its downy stem, and 

 smooth fruitstalk. It has some resemblance in habit and in 

 the form of the sporangium to Hypnum cuspidatum. 



