-84- 



only Sphagnum endemic to that Pacific coast area distinguished by so many 

 endemic bryophyte species. It has acquired no real synonyms, though several 

 times confused with other species, so by Lesquereux at first with S. auriculatum 

 Schimper, a form of 5. subsecundum in its broad sense. Warnstorf for a time 

 included with it 5. Dusenii^^ and so accredited it to Europe and other localities 

 where it does not occur. In herbaria he also for a time named specimens of it 

 5". propinquum H. Lindberg and S. annulatum H. Lindberg, It has however 

 maintained itself and is unquestionably a distinct species. 



Its general aspect is suggestive of S. cuspidatum, but it more commonly has 

 a peculiar yellowish green color, at least in relatively fresh specimens. Its 

 leaves may also be slightly undulate. Its microscopic features are also mostly 

 those of S. cuspidatum. Like S. Dusenii it is peculiar in its leaf-pores, having 

 them on the outer surface of the branch-leaves rather numerous in rows near the 

 side-walls of the empty cells. In this respect it resembles 5. subsecundum. The 

 pores however are rather larger, less strongly ringed and in more irregularly 

 interrupted rows than is normally the case in S. subsecundum, though the latter 

 varies greatly. The chlorophyll cells of the branch-leaves in section have not 

 the equal exposure on either surface and the oval, more or less central lumen 

 normally characteristic of 5. subsecundum, but are of the type of 6'. cuspidatum-. 

 The empty cells of the branch-leaves have also the narrower, more elongated 

 form of 5. cuspidatum. On the other hand the stem-cortex deviates markedly 

 from 5. cuspidatum, being in section composed of one row of large cells with thin 

 walls, often with a second row partially developed, as is well shown in Sullivant 's 

 original figure. This feature shows astonishing agreement with S. subsecundum 

 and serves effectually to separate our species from S. balticum and 5. annulatum, 

 with which it shares most of its other microscopic characters. It is perhaps 

 with S. balticum that it is most closely related, though it is not easy to convince 

 oneself that it is a direct derivative of any one of the species now existing. The 

 marked difference between the cortical stem-cells of 5. annulatum (agreeing in 

 this respect with 6'. balticum ) and S. mendocinum is well brought out by the figures 

 given in juxtaposition by Warnstorf in his comprehensive monograph.^^ 



" Evidently Lesquereux did not even later understand S. mendocinum adequately. Specimens 

 from his herbarium which I have examined through the kindness of Mrs. Britton show three 

 different specimens collected by Bolander near Mendocino City and referred to S. auriculatum 

 and later to 5. mendocinum, of which only one, the type-specimen, really represents the last species; 

 the others are forms of 5. subsecundum. The Sullivant herbarium seems to show that Sullivant 

 understood the three specimens correctly. The specimen of the second set of SuU. & Lesq. exsiccati 

 (No. 23. 1865) collected by Brewer in the Sierra Nevada of California issued as 5. auriculatum 

 and referred to 5. mendocinum in the original publication of the latter species is also a form of 

 5. subsecundum. The inclusion of it is however probably due to Lesquereux, who completed 

 and edited the text of the posthumous work of Sullivant. There is no question as to what Sulli- 

 vant 's plate represents, and this together with the name fixes sufficiently the type. Lesquereux 's 

 original conception of 5. auriculatum was apparently based upon two specimens collected in 

 Sweden by Angstrom which are now in the Lesquereux herbarium. They represent clearly enough 

 that form of 5. subsecundum which Schimper described and figured as 5. auriculatum. 



1^ Bot. Gaz., XV, 222. 1890; Verh. bot. Ver. Prov. Brandenburg, XXXII, 210. 1891. 

 Pflanzenreich 51: fig. 44. 191 1, 



