DICRANACEAE. 45 
4. Ditrichum flexifolium (Hook.) Hampe in Flora, 1867, p. 182. 
Syn. Dicranum flexifolium Hook., Muse. Exot., t. 144 (1820) [non 
Dicranum flexitoliam Hornsch. e Schwacar.. Suppl. 2. 115 (1826)] 
Trichoste tient. caxtfoliam Hf. & W., Woe.; 12 Haudd. 
N.Z. Fl., p. 417. Ditrichum lates {Slovan ‘Mite, in Trans. & Proc. 
Roy. Soc. Victoria, 1882, p. 51. og arte affine C. M. in Bot. 
Zeit., 1847, p. 825. ri ectieytigs affine M M. Austro-amer., 
p. 2. Ditrichum ei ampe, op. cit. Pichbbiiaien setosum 
H.f. & W., Fl. N.Z., 2, 73, t. 84; Handb. N.Z. FL, p.417. Lepto- 
trichum capense CO. M., . 1, 453. Ditrichum capense Par., 
Ind., p. 392. Leptotrichum ie C. M., Syn., I, 446. Ds 
modon plicatus Mont., Syll., p. 49. D. cirrifolius Mont. in ped 
Sci. Nat., 1842. Ditrichum ‘iislsiohn Hampe in Nuov. Giorn. bot. 
ital., 187 2, p. 273. Leptotrichum Boryanum C. M., Syn., 1, 
p- 452. Ditrichum Boryanum Hampe in Fi., loc. cit. ‘Tricho- 
stomum difficile Duby in Moritzi, Verz. d. Zoll. PA, p- 134. Ditri- 
chum difficile Fleisch., Die Musci der Fl. von Buitenzorg, 1, 300. 
It is with SMEs diffidence that I have united the two plants 
yee ally known as affine ( pera setosum of the Handbook) and 
D. laxifolium. ae hesitation, however, as I have in so doing arises not 
from an ny doubt remaining in my own a5 as to their identity, but from 
the fact that, so far as I am aware, though the plants exist in many herbaria 
under both names, and have been treated in several works, no suggestion, 
so far as I know, has been hitherto made as to any close relationship between 
them. I do not even recollect seeing the two compared with one another 
—e.g., in such works as the Handbook. And yet a comparison of the 
respective Hedipeane at once suggests their close resemblance, and, indeed, 
fails to disengage any character of even second-rate importance to separate 
them. 
The distinguishing characters as given in the Handbook amount to the 
following :— 
D. affine. ae anata 
Leaves, strict, erect, crowded. Fruit- | Leaves dita: spreading, flexuose, 
stalk pale. | very long. Fruitetalle red. 
All the other characters given are absolutely identical. 
e seta is usually pale, often quite yellow up to the time of maturing 
of the fruit; it varies to red, and often or usually becomes darker after 
maturity ; but there is no correlation between the colour of the seta and the 
leaf-characters given above. Thus some of the most extreme “ lazifolium ” 
plants I have in my herbarium show the seta apihaeerete ie through- 
out. A very instructive specimen in rown’s herbarium—“ D. laxifolium, 
Kelly’s Range, Westland, ex herb. Beckett °—is of fhe: most pronounced 
. Tact ” type, with very long, lax, widely spreading leaves, a very 
elongate seta, up to 4cm. in length, and a proportionately long, much- 
curved capsule ; this has the setae of all shades from pale straw-colour, at 
least in the greater part, to a bright red, although all the capsules are in a 
similar stage of maturity (just ripe), and a few deoperculate. e colour 
of the setae may be eliminated, therefore, and there remain only the leaf. 
characters given above, which might quite well apply simply to two forms— 
a denser and a laxer one—within the limits of a single species, even were 
there not intergrading forms between them. As a matter of fact, these 
intergrading forms are present, and frequent, and I have several specim 
as to which I should be very nee put to it if required to decide to which 
