14 SPHAGNACE/E. 



o 



7. Sphagnum teres Angstr. (S. squarrosum var. teres Schp., 

 Braithw. Sphagnacese.) (Tab. VII. C.) 



Slender ; yellowish green or brownish ; 4-8 inches high. 

 Stem brownish red ; cuticular cells usually in 3 layers, sometimes 

 4, not porose. Stem leaves large, soft, broadly oblong-lingulate 

 and spathulate, rounded and somewhat fimbriate at the top ; cells 

 without fibres or pores, short and very broad above, gradually 

 becoming longer and narrower towards the base ; border very 

 faint or nearly obsolete, of narrow cells (but not so narrow as in 

 most species), hardly reaching the summit of the leaf, and of equal 

 width throughout . Branches 4-5 in a fascicle, the pendent ones 

 closely appressed to stem ; divergent branches terete, slender, 

 leaves imbricate, only very slightly recurved at apex, broadly 

 ovate, narrowed from the middle upwards to a rather acute 

 point, 3-4 toothed at apex. Hyaline cells short and broad, with 

 very large pores. Chlorophyllose cells narrow oval-rectangular 

 in section, usually emerging on both sides of the leaf, but always 

 more so on the dorsal than on the ventral face. Male amentula 

 clavate, the apex beyond the antheridia, subsequently elongating 

 and flagelliform. Dioicous. 



Var. [S. subteres (S. squarrosum var. subteres Lindb.). 

 Slender, elongated, 6-10 inches high, blight green. Branches 

 elongated ; leaves with the upper half recurved, and attenuated to 

 apex. 



Var. y. squarrosulum Warnst. (S. squarrosulum Lesq., S. 

 squarrosum var. squarrosulum Schp. Syn.). Small (variable 

 in size), slender, deep green above, whitish below ; leaves small, 

 squarrose from the middle. 



Var. 8. laxum Dixon (S. squarrosum var. laxum Braithw.). 

 Pale whitish green, usually ochraceous at base with ferruginous 

 deposit, so ft, fragile; 6-10 inches high. Stem leaves short, broad, 

 quadrate or quadrate-oval, laxly areolate, often strongly fimbriate 

 at the truncate apex. Branches very long, straight, deflexed, 

 flagelliform ; branch leaves divergent, straight, not squarrose 

 (though here and there a branch may be found with the leaves 

 strongly squarrose), ovate-lanceolate, acute. 



Hab. Boggy places and springs in subalpine districts. Not common. The 

 vars. and •> usually in more shady places. The var. 8 in ditches with iron deposit, 

 Eskdale, Yorkshire ; Flitwick, Bedfordshire. 



* Sphagnum squarrosum Pers. (Tab. VII. D.). 



Larger in all its parts than S. teres, 8-18 inches high, rival- 



