Bryum Hornum. Swans-neck Bryu 



M. 



MN1UM Llmal Gen. PL Cryptogamia Musci. Mafculus flos pedunculatms. Femineus flos m diftin&o 



faepius individuo. 



Rail Synopfis Gen. 3. Musci, 

 MNIUM hornum antheris pendulis, pedunculo curvato, furculo fimplici, foliolis margine fcabria. Unnat Syft. 



Vegeiab. 796. 

 BRYUM hornum furculo capitulifero ramofiufculo ; ftellifero fimplici, primordialibus pi umulofis. Necker. Method. 



Mufc. p. 21$. 

 MNIUM follis lanceolatis, iinbricatis, capfulis pendulis cylindricis obtufis, Hal/er. hifl. heh. 3. p. 54, 

 MNIUM hornum ferratifolium. Weis Cryptogam. 149. 



BRYUM antheris oblongis nutantibus, pedunculo curvato, foliolis ovatis, margine fcabris. Hudfion. FL 



Angl. p. 415. 

 BRYUM ftellare hornum fylvarum, Capfulis magnis nutantibus. Dillen. mufc. 402. 



BRYUM nitidum capitulis majoribus reflexis, calyptra imum vergente, pediculis oblongis e cauliculis novis 

 egredientibus. Rati Syn. p. 102. 51. 



Ad majores accedit hsec fpecies. | This fpecies comes near to the largeft fize. 



& 

 CAULES unciales aut biunciales, radiculis ferrugineis, y STALKS from one to two inches in height, furnifhed 



valde tomentofis inftructi, erecti, plerumque ra- | with roots which are of a ferruginous colour, 



mofi, pedunculiferi et ftelliferi, ad'bafin rubi- ^ and covered with a kind of wooly fubftance, up- 



cundi, Stellulje et Pedunculi, nunc feorfim, t right and generally branched, reddifh at bottom, 



nunc ex eadem radice proveniunt, unusque aut $ producing both Pedunculi and Stellula, 



plures Surculi e ban caulis femper fere naf- £ which proceed fometimes from the fame, fome- 



cuntur. I times from different roots, and one or feveral 



* Surculi ufually fpring from the bottom of the 

 I ftalk. 



FOLIA faturate viridia, ovato-lanceolata, fubere&a, pel- | LEAVES of a deep green colour, of an oval pointed 

 lucida, ad lentem minute /errata, fig. 1 ; nervo | fhape, nearly upright, pellucid, when viewed 



medio diftincto et in mucronem brevem educto, * with a glafs finely j'errated at the edges, fig. 1 ; 



in furculis fcemineis dictis apice ftellatim expan- | the midrib diftinct, and terminating in a fhort 



fa, et paulo latiora, in junioribus anguftiora et % point, on the tops of thofe ftalk, which are con- 



cauli magis adpreffa. | lidered as female, they are expanded like a little 



I ftar and fomewhat broader, in the young moots 



I they are narrower and prefled clofer to the ftalk. 



PEDUNCULI terminales, biunciales, rubrae, verfus a- | PEDUNCLES fpringing from the fummit of the ftalks, 



picem ut recte obfervavit Dillenius inftar £ about two inches in height, bent near the top 



colli olorini incurvati. J like a Swans Neck as Dillenius has properly 



y obferved. 



CAPSUL/E oblong*, tumidae, virides, nutantes, lente i CAPSULES oblong, tumid, of a green colour and droop- 

 aucta, fig. 7; per longitudinem fecta ut Re- f ing, magnified,^. 7; cut longitudinally through 



ceptaculum confpiciatur,^". 9; Calyptra % themiddlethattheRECEPTACULUM maybe feen, 



longa, acuminata, caduca, fig. 6 ; Operculum | fig. 9; the Calyptra long, pointed, andfoon 



breve, fiavefcens, fig. 8; Ora ciliata. | falling off, fig. 6; the Operculum fhort, of a 



t yellowifh colour, fig. 3; the Mouth of the 



* Capfule ciliated. 



On examining with a Microfcope the tops of thofe Stalks which are called Stellula famine*, fig. 2, and which are 

 •confidered by many as the female parts of the fructification in this Mofs, there appeared in the center of the 

 Stellula, a great number of fmall upright bodies, or Corpufcks, of two kinds, fig. 3, the one white, pellucid, and 

 jointed; the other of a greener colour, fhorter, and of an oblong oval fhape, vid. fig. 4, 5. They do not ap- 

 pear to me to have any thing in their Structure, in the leaft fimilar to any of the parts of fructification in 

 plants, what their real ftructure and ufes are, may perhaps be difcovered by future obfervations. 



This fpecies occurs not unfrequently on moift banks in Woods, as in Charlton Wood, and the Woods about 

 Hampfiead, producing its Fructifications in February and March. 



As the Capitula pulvcrulenta of Dillenius, or Spharophylli as they are called by Necker, are entirely wanting 

 in this Mofs, and as the extftence of thofe fingular little heads feems very obvioufly to diftinguifh the Genus 

 Mnium, I have chofen rather to arrange it with Dillenius and Hudson among the Bryums, than with Linnjeus 

 among the Mniums ; for if we make Mniums of all the Mofles which have Stellula, we fhall involve ourfelves 

 in confiderable difficulties : many of thofe Stellula are indeed very obvious, as in the prefent one, but in others 

 they are very obfcure, fo that it is difficult to fay whether they exift in them or not ; but if they were ob- 

 vioufly to be diftinguifhed, there is not the leaft iikenefs between a Stellula and Spharophyllum, why then unite 

 in one Genus plants which have fuch very different appearances ? Would it not be better to confider the Mofles 

 which produce Spharophylli or little balls as Mniums, according to Dillenius, and divide the Bryums, if necef- 

 iary, into two 1 families, viz- fuch as have obvious Stellula, and fuch as have none ? 



The name of rough Bryum, which Mr. Hudson feems to have given to this Mofs for brevity's fake, con- 

 veys an idea with which this Bryum does not feem perfectly to correspond, it having no roughnefs except at the 

 edges of the leaves, which are minutely ferrated: I have therefore adopted Dillenius's name of Swans Neck 

 Bryum, as being juftifiable from the lingular fhape of the Peduncles, and being- more likely to be remember- 

 ed from its ftriking analogy. 



