Supplement.] 243 



AMBLYSTEGIUM (§ Euamblystegium) COMPACTUM {C. M.) Austin. 



Autoicous? resembling A. serpens; in flat spreading patches. Stem 

 and branches very slender, stoloniferous. Leaves erecto-patent, finely 

 serrulate at base, cauline ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, nerve yellowish, 

 I length of leaf, with rhizoids at back ; cells lineal-rhomboid, quadrate at 

 angles. Capsule suberect, lid conic, rostellate. (T. CXXVIII, C.) 



Syn. — Hypnum serpens var. compactum Hook, in Drumm. Muse. Amer. no. l88. 



Hypnum compactum C. Muell. Synops. ii, 408 (1851). Sulliv. Icon. muse. 201, t. 123 

 (1864). Lesq. James Moss. N. Amer. 375 (1884). 



Amblystegium serratum Br.Sch. Bry. Eur, fasc. 55 — 56, in note sub A.radicale p. II (1853) 



Stereodon compactus Mitt. Journ. Linn. Soc. viii, 43 (1864). 



Amblystegium densum Milde Bot. Zeit. 1864, Beil. 21. 



Rhynchostegium tenellum var. brevifolium Lindb. in litt. Rabenh. Bryoth. no. 750 (1864). 



Amblystegium cryptarum vel latebrarum Sauter in sched. 



Amblystegium serpens var. cryptarum (Sauter) Arnold in Rabenh. Bryoth. no. 841 (1865). 



Brachythecium densum Juratz. in Rabenh. Bryoth. no. 995 (1867). Limpr. in Rabenh. D. 

 kr. fl. Laubm. iii, 136 (1897). 



Hypnum densum Milde Bry. Siles. 360 (1869), (non C. Muell. Synops. ii, 33S). 



Amblystegium compactum Austin Muse. Appal. 372. Macoun & Kindb. Cat. Canad, 

 pi. 221 (1892). Cheney in Bot. .Gaz. xxiv, 262 (1897). Limpr. in Rabenh. D. kr. fl. 

 Laubm. iil, 331 (1898). Heribaud Muse. d'Auvergne (1899). Dixon in Journ. Bot. 

 1900, p. 175. 



Amblystegium dissitifolium Kindb. in Mae. & Kindb. op. e. 220 (1892), 



Amblystegium subcompactum C. Muell. & Kind. op. t. 221 (1892). 



Autoicous and ? dioicous ; growing in thin dull green or yellowish 

 patches, and resembling a form of A. serpens. Stems slender and fragile, 

 slightly radiculose, creeping and irregularly branched. Leaves rather 

 distant, patent and ascending, secund and pointing upward on the branches, 

 slightly decurrent ; stem leaves ovato-lanceolate, gradually tapering into 

 a wide acumen, margin ereqt, minutely serrulate towards base, nerve 

 reaching middle or nearly to apex, often producing rhizoids at the back ; 

 cells linear-rhomboid, at basal angles quadrate. Perichsetial bracts sheath- 

 ing, broadly lanceolate, shortly acuminate, serrulate at apex, faintly nerved 

 for I the length. Capsule small, suberect, wide-mouthed, with a distinct 

 neck, oblong and a little incurved ; lid conico-rostellate, pale yellow ; 

 peristome pale yellow ; cilia solitary, very short. 



Hab. — Caves and cavities of rocks in limestone districts, rare. 



Smoo cave, Durness, Sutherland, and Glen Dubh, Inchnadamph, Sutherland {Dixon 1899) ! I 

 AUt-nan-Uamh, Inchnadamph (Nicholson, Salmon, and Dixon). Dovedale, Derbyshire 

 {Dixon 1899). 



In his admirable paper in The Journal of Botany Mr. Dixon has cleared up 

 much of the confusion which existed about this interesting plant, and I have nothing 

 to add, except that on one of the specimens he kindly sent me I found a solitary 

 male inflorescence with two antheridia; this, however, does not settle the sexual 



