Phascum acaulon. Common Phascum, 



PHASCUM Lin. Gen. PI. Cryptogamia Musci. 



Calyptra minima. Operculum nullum. 

 Rail Syn. Gen. 3. Musci. 

 PHASCUM acaulon anthera femli foliis ovatis acutis. Lm.Syft.Feget.^.j.g^. Sp.Pl.15jo. Fl.Suec.g6o. 

 PHASCUM cufpidatum caulefcens, foliis ovatis cufpidatis patulis : termimdibus erectis conniventibus. 

 Schreber. de Phafco. t. 1. f. 1, 2. 

 1 SPHAGNUM acaulon foliis ovato-lanceolatis, pilo ariftatis. Haller. Flljl. 1726. 



SPHAGNUM acaulon bulbiforme majus. Bill. Mufc. 251. t. 32. f. 11. Rail Syn. 105. Lightfoot Fl. 

 Scot. p. 695. HudJ'on Fl. Angl. p. 466. Oeder Fl. Dan. t. 249. f. 1. 



Phascum subulatum. Heath Phascum. 



PHASCUM fubulatum acaule, anthera feffili, foliis fubulato-fetaceis patulis. Lin. Syjl. Vegetab. p. 794. 



Sp. PI. 1570. 

 PHASCUM fubulatum caulefcens, foliis lanceolato-linearibus patulis. Schreber de Phafco, p. 80. 

 SPHAGNUM acaulon trichodes, Haller. Hi/I. 11. 1727. Bitten. Hijl. Mufc. 251. t. 32. f. 10. Oeder 

 Fl. Ban. t. 249. Lighifoot FL Scot. p. 693. HudJ'on. FL Angl p. 466. 



Dillenitjs, who drew the figures of his incomparable work on mofles, without ufing glaffes of any confiderably 

 magnifying power, or, perhaps, without attending fo much to the minutia: of the parts of fructification as the 

 practice is at prefent, defcribed thefe plants as having no Calyptra, and united them with the genus Sphagnum. 

 LiNNiEUs afterwards made a diftindt genus of them, but without correcting the error of his predeceflbr. The 

 following is the defcription of the genus Phajcum, which he gives in th 6th edition of the Genera Plantarum. 

 Mafculus flos fubfeffilis vel brevi pedunculo, 

 Cal. Calyptra nulla. 



Anthera oyalis ore ciliato, tecta operculo acuminato. 

 Recept. Apophyfis nulla. 

 Femineus flos. 

 Several Botanifts afterwards defcribing and delineating the calyptra, Linn^us, in the 13th edition of his Syjlema 

 Naturae, published by MuRRAYunder the title of Syjlema Vegetabilium, alters it thus : 

 Anthera operculata: ore ciliata. Calyptra caduca, minuta. 

 This generic defcription, thus altered, is adopted by Mr. Hudson, without any remarks on its inapplicability to 

 the Englifti Phafca. He fhould have informed us, that, however well the character might accord with any foreign 

 Phafcum, the Englijh ones, at leaft both thefe here figured, which are the moft common, have neither Operculum 

 nor Cilia. Of this we are fully convinced from repeated examination ; and have the pleasure of having our 

 experiments confirmed by the accurate and ingenious Schreber, who, in his moft excellent Monographia, Obfer- 

 vationes de Phafco, has the following pafTages : " Suturam, qua plerorumque mufcorum vafcula infra apicem, ubi 

 " deinde operculum abfcedit, cinguntur, in nulla hujus generis fpecie obfervare potui. Operculum enim Phafcis 

 44 in univerfum omnibus deeft, et vafculum undique in extremum apicem ufque clauditur, fine ullius determinate 

 " aperturze veftigio, quamobrem compreffum utcumque rumpi folet. Cilia igitur in quocumque Phafco fruftra 

 " quaererentur." 



Aeain, fpeaking of the Capfule, he fays : " Petten in ea nullus adeft nee ullam aperturae cujufdam determinatae 

 44 aut foraminis, emiffioni contentorum infervientis, veftigium reperire unquam potui. Non enim fponte aperitur, 

 44 fed integra perfittit; donee maxima foliorum pars putruerit, quod in Ph. pilifero faepius obfervavi, aut e foliis 

 " apertis integra elabitur." 



This Angular deficiency then, both of the Operculum and Cilia?, forms, in our opinion, the beft criterion by 

 which to diftinguilh this genus of plants, and we have altered the generic character accordingly. 



PHASCUM ACAULON. f PHASCUM SUBULATUM. 



THERE is no mofs more common on the moiit banks i THE Phajcum fubulatum is not fo frequently met with 



about London than the Phafcum acaulon ; but as I as the acaulon, yet is not uncommon on heaths, 



it exhibits no appearance of fructification till ^ in the fand pits about Charlton, and on dry 



in an, advanced ftate, and then only to thel banks in a variety of places. They are both 



inquifitive obferver, it generally panes unno- % found in fructification from Becember to Ja- 



ticed. Mr. Lightfoot gives a fhort, but very | nuary. 



expreflive, defcription of it, as follows : "The 3: In this fpecies the capfule, though fmaller, is much 



" leaves, when young, connive together, in | more diftinctly feen, and its calyptra is vifible 



" the form of a fmall oval bulb, about one-* even to the naked eye. Like the other, it varies 



" fixth of an inch long, and hide the capfule, % much in fize, as alfoin the length, of its pe- 



" which is oval and orange- coloured at firft, but | duncle. Mr. lightfoot confiders it as the 



" when ripe fufcous and fhining, and about the f leaft of our Englifh plants ; but Mr. dickson, 



" fize of a millet feed." We have reprefentedl of Covent-Garden, who may juftly be called 



the plant at fig. 1. as it ufually grows on thef maximus in minimis, has difcovered a Phafcum, 



ground ;_/%-. 2, 3. detached plants of their natural | the ferratum of Schreber, which is certainly 



fize; fig. 4. a plant magnified; fig. 5. a fingle leaf % ten times fmaller. Fig. 1. reprefents the fubu- 



magnified ; fig. 6. the anthera or capfule mag-| latum as it ufually grows ; fig. 3, 3- de-tached 



nified ; fig. 7. the calyptra alio magnified. | plants ; fig. 4. a plant magnified ; fig. 5. a fin- 



| gle leaf magnified ; fig. 6. the capfule ; fig. 7, 



* the calyptra magnified. 



