THE 
HEW PHYTOhOGIST. 
Jan. & Feb., 191 i. 
Vol. X, Nos. 1 & 2. 
[Published March 13th]. 
THE INTER-RELATIONSHIPS OF THE BRYOPHYTA, 
By F. Cavers, D.Sc. 
[Figs. 55—72.] 
VI. SPHAGNALES. 
HE general vegetative characters of Sphagnum, the sole genus 
1 in this group, are, perhaps, too well known to require detailed 
treatment here. The stems, individually weak, gain support by 
their dense aggregation when growing, as is usual, in cushions above 
the surface of the water, the closely crowded branches at the top 
being either pale-green or showing various shades of red, yellow, or 
brown, while lower down the plants are brownish or dirty-white. 
The length to which the stems may grow is practically indefinite, 
and when the plants occur loosely in pools they may be several feet 
long. The branches arising from the main stem are of three kinds, 
without counting those which bear the antheridia and archegonia. 
At the apex of the plant the branches are short and so crowded as 
to form a compact head or “coma” (Fig. 55), but lower down they 
are spaced out in tufts on the stem, usually at every fourth stem- 
leaf, and each tuft may consist of from three to about eight 
branches. In one species (S. monocladum) the branches are single, 
and in a few cases there are more than eight branches in a tuft. 
In the submerged species and varieties, growing in bog pools, all the 
branches are similar in form and structure and spread out from the 
stem, but in other cases some of the branches of each tuft stand out 
(divergent branches) while the rest are longer and more slender and 
droop, lying close to the stem and covering it as with a loose mantle 
(Fig. 56). At intervals one of the branches in a tuft, instead of 
forming a divergent or pendent short branch, grows upwards, repeats 
