LEUCOBRYUM. 117 



entirely of the broad thick nerve, with 2-6 rows of very thin hyaline, 

 rectangular or linear cells on each side, forming a pale inconspicuous 

 band widest below and vanishing at about half-way up the leaf or 

 higher; the apex either acute or rather obtuse with a short 

 apiculus. Dioicous ; capsule variously exserted, on a dark brown 

 seta, inclined, more or less arcuate, small, castaneous, oblong or 

 cylindric, striate, when dry furrowed, strumose. Peristome deep 

 red, dicranoid. Lid longly rostrate. Male plants in distinct tufts, 

 more slender, flowers terminal. 



Hab. Heaths and woods on turfy ground. Common. Fruit rare, all through 

 the winter months. 



The apical leaves often produce at their tips a tuft of radicles, whence are 

 developed a cluster of minute plants, these subsequently falling off and giving rise, to 

 new colonies. Minute, lanceolate leaves are often found among the ordinary ones. 



When dry the plants lose much of their green colour, becoming almost white. 

 The capsules are small for the size of the plant. 



* Leucobryum albidum Lindb. (Dicranum albidum Brid. ; 



L. minus Hampe., Braithw. Br. M. Fl., Vol. I., Suppl.) 



(Tab. XIX. G.). 



Much smaller than the above species, in dwarf, very dense 

 tufts. Leaves crowded, shorter, narrower, more acute, less 

 spreading. Capsule slightly inclined, almost symmetrical, scarcely 

 strumose. 



Hab. New Forest (Piffard). 



This plant has been variously ranked as a variety of L. glaucum and as a species, 

 but I am convinced that it is hardly deserving of specific rank. The New Forest 

 plant, of which I have a specimen, through the kindness of Dr. Braithwaite, is very 

 distinct in its minute capsules, only slightly curved, and the general smallness of its 

 parts ; but even there the leaves are variable in width, and the neck of the capsule 

 is distinctly unequal and prominent, almost amounting to a struma. Moreover, in 

 specimens from the U. S. A. , sent by Mrs. Britton, the plants, though slender and small- 

 leaved, are taller, and the capsule is exactly that of L. glaucum. And further, I have 

 gathered a plant in the New Forest, which, while named L. glaucum by Dr. Braith- 

 waite, much resembles the smaller form, and in the capsules, indeed, comes certainly 

 nearer Piffard's plant than does the above-mentioned American one ; in fact, it con- 

 stitutes an intermediate link. On the whole, I do not think the characters of L. 

 albidum are sufficiently marked or constant to warrant its maintenance as a species. 



Another plant ( L. pumilum Britton), which was formerly confused with this sub- 

 species under the name of L. minus Hpe. is found in the Southern States of America 

 and is a very pretty, still smaller species, with extremely short leaves, very beautifully 

 and regularly imbricated in eight rows. 



According to Lesquereux and James (Manual of N. A Mosses) L. albidum 

 differs from L. glaucum in its time of fruiting, which is said to be in summer, not in 

 winter. In Piffard's New Forest plant, however, which was gathered in April, the 

 capsules are ripe and appear to have just lost their lids, and there can hardly be any 

 difference between the two. On the other hand the fruiting plants of L. glaucum 

 which I gathered in the same neighbourhood, were just ripe in July ; and evidently no 

 reliance can be placed on this character. 



