SWARTZIA. 61 



suddenly reflexed in a long, spreading or squarrose, setaceous 

 subula, which is densely papillose on the nerve and crenulate at 

 margin ; nerve excurrent at apex, less papillose but somewhat 

 denticulate ; cells narrowly rectangular at base and pellucid, 

 obliquely elliptical above, in the subula rounded-quadrate, and 

 papillose. Perichastial bracts two, longly sheathing. Capsule 

 on an elongated seta, erect or very slightly cernuous, oblong or 

 cylindric, bright or brownish red, .glossy. Peristome teeth pale 

 red, irregularly cleft, short, narrow. Paroicous ; antheridia 

 naked in the axils of the uppermost leaves. 



Hab. Mountain rocks and crevices. Frequent on all our mountains. Fr. 

 summer. 



A very pretty plant, easily recognised by its distichous, setaceous leaves, with 

 very conspicuous white, glossy, sheathing bases, so that the stems appear white and 

 shining. In the more compact forms the two-ranked arrangement of the leaves is 

 very obvious, in the more elongated forms with distant leaves this is much less dis- 

 tinct. The leaves, except in the compact forms are very flexuose at apex when dry. 



The plant varies much in height of stem, length of leaf, and form of capsule ; the 

 elongated forms being associated with longer leaves and narrowly cylindrical fruits, 

 while the most compact, short forms have also the leaves short and almost straight, 

 and the capsule much shorter and ovate. There is, however, every gradation from 

 the one extreme to the other, and no clear line of demarcation can be drawn to define 

 the var. compacta (Hiibn.) {D. capill. var. brevifolium B. & S., Schp. Syn. ). I have 

 also seen short elliptical capsules on forms with elongated stems and leaves, so that the 

 correlation of the parts is not a distinctive feature of the variety. 



2. Swartzia inclinata Ehrh. (Distichium inclinatum B. & S., 

 Schp. Syn.) (Tab. XIII. C). 



Plants shorter, of a duller green, less shining ; leaves more 

 crowded and less evidently distichous, the sheathing base less 

 conspicuous, the subula more erect ; the cells slightly longer and 

 more uniformly rectangular ; perichaetial bracts three. Capsule 

 small, rounded-ovate, turgid, inclined, brown, with a dark purple 

 shining mouth ; peristome teeth broader, red, less deeply bi-trifid 

 or nearly entire. Autoicous ; male flower gemmiform, below the 

 female, with 1-3 short, subulate bracts. Spores more than twice 

 the diameter. 



Hab. Stony ground in mountainous districts, rare. Scotland ; Ireland ; York- 

 shire. Fr. summer. 



The characters italicised will serve easily to distinguish this species from the com- 

 pact forms of the last. I do not find any constant difference in the size and width of 

 the leaves. 



