428 HYPNACE^E. 



shorter and wider, often very short at apex ; at base laxer, the 

 angular large, sub-rectangular, otten hyaline, forming more or 

 less distinct, inflated, somewhat pellucid auricles. Perichaetial 

 bracts entire, nerveless. Seta |-i inch long; capsule reddish 

 brown, black when old, oblong-cylindrical, arcuate ; peristome 

 large, orange. Autoicous. 



Van /3. complanatum B. & S. Stems more elongated with 

 fewer branches ; leaves sub-complanate, less concave. 



Var. 7. julaceum Schp. Branches short, julaceous, obtuse; 

 leaves densely imbricated, cochleariform, obtuse. 



Hae. Rocks, base of walls, etc., in shady situations ; common. The vars. 

 more rare. Fr. late winter. 



Usually known without much difficulty by its shining, close tufts, of a somewhat 

 rigid texture, generally with a rusty reddish tinge, the branches usually more or less 

 obtuse and julaceous, and the leaves always concave, so that they cannot be flattened 

 out without splitting, at apex often cucullate, never longly nor finely acuminate, 

 usually only very slightly acute. The fruit is usually produced in great abundance. 

 The plant is distinctly a lowland one, rarely found at high altitudes, and it is always a 

 rock -growing plant, preferring shady, moist situations, never or very rarely growing 

 on trees. 



It has some resemblance to Brachythecium caspitosum and B. illecebrum ; the 

 former however has usually more slender branches, and the leaves are narrower, 

 less concave, and more longly and acutely pointed ; while the latter is a less glossy 

 terrestrial plant of softer texture, the leaves usually larger, with more vermicular, 

 narrower cells, less tapering at the ends and less chlorophyllose. The fruiting 

 characters are quite different. 



The branches are often markedly julaceous, and it is difficult to draw the line 

 between the type and the var. julaceum. 



18. Eurhynchium confertum Milde (Hypnum confertum 



Dicks. ; Rhynchostegium confertum B. & S., Schp. Syn.) 



(Tab. LIV. O.). 



In low, dense tufts, dull or bright green, not very glossy, 

 slender. Stems short (about 1 inch), irregularly branched, pros- 

 trate and adhering by radicles, branches slender, short, variously 

 directed. Leaves not crowded, erecto-patent, usually somewhat 

 secund, often strongly so, small, about '/i line in length, concave, 

 ovate, ovate-oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, shortly acuminate, 

 denticulate over the greater part of the margin, nerve reaching 

 usually above the middle ; areolation resembling that of 

 E. murale, the angular rather less distinct. Perichaetial bracts 

 denticulate , thinly nerved. Seta about half-an-inch long, capsule 

 short, ovate-oblong, brownish ; peristome rather small. Autoicous. 



Hab. Stones, stumps of trees, etc. , in shady places : common. Fr. winter. 



