HvPNACEiE.] 23 [Amblysteghiin. 



Amblystegium varium Lindb. Muse, scand. 32 (1879). HusN. Muse. gall. 359, t. 103 

 (1893). Dixon James. Stud. Handb. 443 (1896). 



Autoicous ; laxly tufted, deep green, rigid, prostrate. Stems 

 densely radiculose and ramulose, the shorter branches erect. Leaves 

 firm, from a broadly ovate or obcordate base, narrowly lanceolate, 

 longly acuminate, entire, erecto-patent, nerve strong, continued into 

 apex; cells dense, sub-hexagonal, those at basal angles quadrato- 

 rectangular. Perich. bracts oblong, thin, plicate, longly acuminate, 

 nerved nearly to apex. Capsule on a long purple seta, oblique or 

 horizontal, cylindric, arcuate, leptodermous, contracted below the 

 mouth, pale yellowish-brown; lid conic, acute; annulus of 2 — 3 rows 

 of cells ; teeth of peristome pale ferruginous, processes entire, cilia 

 perfect. 



Hab. — Wet ground, about tree roots or decayed sticks. Fr. 4. 



Hurstpierpoint and Cuckfield (Mitten 1855) ! ! Brighton and in the Weald [Davies 1857) ! ! 

 Pithead, Stretford, Lane. (Hunt 1859). Swamp at Ashley, Cheshire (Hunt 1865) ! ! 

 Shere, Surrey (Capron 1868) ! ! Moidart, Inverness (McVicar i8y6) ! ! Forth Dafarch, 

 Holyhead (Wilson). Devil's bridge (Bowman). York (Spruce). Marske mill, Saltburn 

 (R. Barnes 1886) ! ! Bredwardine, Hereford (Binstead 1893) ! 



Var. p. oligorrhizon (Guemb.) Lindb. 



Stems sparingly branched, with few radicles, leaves shorter, less 

 acuminate, minutely serrulate. 



Syn. — Amblystegium oligorrhizon Guemb. MS. Br. Sch. Bry. eur. fasc. 55 — -56, t. 6. 

 ScHiMP. Synops. 593 (i860), 2 ed. 712. 



Ambl. varium Var. oligorrhizon Li.sdb. Muse, scand. 32 (1879). HusN. Muse. gall. 359. 



Hab. — Govilon valley, Abergavenny (Mitten) ! ! 



There is great confusion between this species and A. radicale, and it must 

 be confessed they come very near each other ; perhaps one cause of this may 

 be Hedwig's figure, which was probably taken from the form orthocladon, in 

 which the leaves are much less acuminate than in the ordinary state. The 

 chief points of difference lie in the leaves, which in the present species are 

 erecto-patent, with a stronger nerve, reaching into the point, and more incrassate areolation. 

 It is the commoner plant of the two with us. 



7. AMBLYSTEGIUM SERPENS (L.) Br. Sch. 



Autoicous ; in prostrate, deep green, much-branched tufts. Leaves 

 oval lanceolate, longly acuminate, nerved to middle or less. Capsule 

 subcylindric, arcuate, inclined. (T. LXXXIX, A.) 



