80 THE SPHAGNACE.4& OR PEAT-MOSSES OF 
Male amentula fusiform, subclavate, ochraceous; the bracts 
ovate, acuminate. 
Haz.—Open moorlands, wet heaths, and spongy mountain bogs. Fr. July. 
Europe and North America from the plains to the mountain region ; frequent. 
Professor Lindberg has satisfactorily settled the nomenclature 
of both Sph. cuspidatum, Enru. and Sph. intermedium, Horr., 
from an examination of original specimens of both authors preserved 
at St. Petersburg ; Hoffmann’s description is otherwise far too brief 
for correct determination, and his var. 8 is to be referred to Spf. 
acutifolium, ERRH. 
Professor Schimper at first united his plant with the following 
species, as Sph. cuspidatum, Euru., regarding the present as the 
type and the other as a submersed variety, and moreover described 
them as monoicous. The habit, texture, and general facies of the 
two are so dissimilar, that they may generally be distinguished 
without difficulty. The chief characters to be noted in Sph. znter- 
medium are the pendent branches quite concealing the stem, the 
indistinct cuticular cells, the branch leaves undulated and more or 
less squarroso-recurved at point when dry, the broadly oblong, 
apiculate, more densely areolate perichetial bracts, the much 
shorter cells in the border of the stem leaves, and the pale yellow 
spores. 
The plant varies greatly in height and stoutness, as well as in 
colour ; the latter is sometimes pale green above and white below, 
but in the majority of cases it is yellowish green and often with 
more or less of a golden yellow or fulvous tint, especially in the 
comal branches, and in this form it may possibly be mistaken for 
Sph. Lindberg, while the green state is on the other hand quite as 
likely to be taken for Sph. strictume. 
Var. B. riparium (Ancsrr.), Linps. 
Plants robust, 9-18 in. high, deep dull green. - Capitulum large, 
with numerous very long drooping branches, all gradually attenu- 
ated from the middle. Stem with the cuticular cells very in- 
distinct. Stem leaves large, elongato-triangular, the apex obtuse 
and toothed, or lacerate, or rounded and more or less fimbriate. 
Branch leaves closely imbricate, ovato-lanceolate, recurved at 
apex when dry, the point elongated, consisting of flexuose chloro- 
phyllose cells alone without any fibrillose. 
