HYPNUM. 461 



slightly branched, slender and flexuose, but rendered very robust 

 and tumid by the densely crowded, large, concave leaves ; forming 

 large tufts of a rich golden colour, 4-10 inches high. Leaves- 

 very large, 2-i\ lines long, very concave, widely oblong- 

 lanceolate, tapering to a fine, moderately long acumen, falcate 

 but not strongly so, hardly hooked at the tips of the stems, very 

 slightly decurrent at the wide base, which is broadly, not 

 semicircularly excavate, entire, when dry plicate and irregularly 

 rugose ; nerve narrow, 30-50 /u, reaching to the base of the 

 acumen. Cells as in H . Sendtneri, the basal incrassate, with the 

 walls porose. Dioicous. 



Hab. Deep bogs and pools ; rare. Fr. spring, very rare. 



This plant resembles H. scorpioides in the tumid stems with large rugose leaves, 

 but the colour is usually different, and the long nerve quite distinctive. It is so 

 different in habit, arrangement and form of leaves, etc., from H. Wihoni that I do 

 not feel able to follow Renauld in making one a sub-species of the other. It is in 

 appearance one of the most distinct of the species of this Section. 



10. Hypnum fluitans L. (Amblystegium ftuitans De Not.) 

 (Tab. LVII. D.). 



Very variable. Typically slender, elongated, very soft and 

 flexuose, slightly and hardly pinnately branched, the leaves 

 distant, slightly falcate, not strongly curved, even at the 

 tips of the stems, pale green, glossy, resembling forms of H ,. 

 aduncum var. Kneiffii but with narrower more silky leaves^ 

 Another equally common form is more robust, more pinnately 

 branched, with the leaves closer, falcate, at tips of branches 

 strongly hooked, usually of a darker colour, orange or chestnut 

 brown. Tufts large, deep, soft in texture. Leaves very narrow, 

 Ungulate-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, very gradually 

 tapering to an extremely long, flexuose acumen, \\-2 lines long, 

 smooth or obsoletely plicate when dry, narrow at base and widely. 

 not deeply excavate, at margin usually distinctly denticulate, 

 especially at apex and base; nerve distinct, narrow or wider, 

 usually reaching high in the acumen, or even to apex. Cells long 

 and very narrow, 100-120 /x long, 20-30 times as long as wide, 

 but variable, linear-flexuose, obtuse, somewhat incrassate ; 

 almost uniform to the base ; at angles inflated, hyaline or 

 coloured, forming distinct auricles often reaching to the nerve. 

 Seta long, 2 to even 4 inches ; capsule more or less inclined,, 

 variably curved. Annulus none. Autoicous, rarely dioicous or 

 barren with imperfect flowers. 



Hab. Bogs, pools, etc., rarely in calcareous soil. Fr. common, summer. 



