HYPNUM. 455 



Var. ft. protensum B. & S. (Hypnum protensum Brid.). 

 Slender, more or less procumbent , with more regularly pinnate, 

 spreading, more distant branches, forming low, usually prostrate, 

 creeping tufts ; leaves more distant, smaller, often narrower, 

 frequently with a very faint single nerve, reaching nearly half- 

 way ; angular cells usually fewer and smaller. 



Hab. Bogs, marshy meadows, etc. Frequent. The var. j8 on wet calcareous 

 rocks, beds of pools, etc., rarer. Fr. very rare, summer. 



In its typical form this is a robust, handsome species of erect, compact growth 

 and rich golden colour ; but it has a strong tendency to become slender, straggling, 

 and untidy, of a dull dirty green. Some of the forms are very slender, and a number 

 of varieties are described by Boulay, mostly tending in this direction and varying in 

 leaf-form, etc. ; I find the form of leaf so variable, however, even on the same plant, 

 that I think it more satisfactory to include all the more slender, more or less prostrate 

 forms with small leaves under the var. protensum, which in its extreme state is a very 

 marked plant, closely approaching H. chrysophyllum in habit and leaf, and sometimes 

 hardly separable, especially as it not unfrequently occurs with a slender, single nerve ; 

 but it may perhaps always be distinguished by the more distant, more squarrose 

 leaves, usually wider at base, and generally, though not always, with larger auricular 

 cells. 



H. stellatum sometimes has much the appearance of H. polygamum, with less 

 squarrose leaves of a narrower outline, but wanting the long distinct nerve of that 

 species, and with a different inflorescence. 



* Hypnum chrysophyllum Brid. (Amblystegium chryso- 

 phyllum Lindb.) (,Tab. LVI. L.). 



Differs from most forms of H. stellatum as follows : Much 

 more slender, stem prostrate, with suberect or spreading, 

 pinnate branches, forming low, lax or denser tufts, rarely an inch 

 high, bright golden, rarely yellowish green. Leaves smaller, 

 %-i line long, more crowded, less squarrose, frequently secund, 

 narrower at base, more gradually tapering, triangular-lanceolate 

 or ovate-acuminate, nerve slender, single, reaching half-way or 

 slightly beyond ; cells as in H. stellatum but frequently shorter, 

 5-10 times as long as broad ; angular cells usually smaller and 

 more opaque, less frequently dilated and pellucid. 



Var. p. erectum Bagnall (Journ. of Bot., 1896, p. m). In 

 dense large tufts, 1-2 inches high, yellowish green. Stems erect 

 or ascending with densely pinnate, erect, crowded branches; 

 leaves more regularly secund, often distinctly falcato-secund, 

 sub-denticulate at basal margin. 



Hab. On the ground, rocks, etc., in calcareous districts. Frequent. The var. 

 0, Dove Dale, Staffordshire, (Bagnall, 1895). Fr. very rare, summer. 



After examining a large number of specimens of this and H. stellatum I am 

 compelled to think the difference between them is very slight indeed. It is quite 



