1006 CRYPTOGAMIA. MUSCI. Phasctjm. 
.... . . .- . •• — •••-- - 
Whole plant smaller than the preceding, capsules rounder and more shining, 
red yellow ; leaves paler, not ending in a grey hair. Capsules ripe a 
month sooner. Dill. 
(Beardless Earth-moss. E.) P. acaulon (3. Linn. Garden walks, 
hedges, ditch banks. A. Jan.—Feb, 
P. subula'tum. Stem short: leaves spear-strap-shaped, upper ones 
bristle-shaped, broad at the base. 
Hedw. Stirp. i. 35—( Schmid. 58. 1— Curt. 275— E. Hot. 2177— Muse. Brit . 
v. E.) — FI. Dan. 249. 2— Happ. ii. Phascum. 1. b. — Dill. 32. 10— Vaill. 
29. 9. 
Capsules continuing all the summer, reddish and yellowish, in autumn 
ripening, turning brown, and opening. K. Syn. So minute as hardly to 
be visible if it did not grow in patches ; from two to three lines high. 
Weis. Shoots not branched. Veil covering the capsule, conical, scored, 
blunt, of short duration. Neck. In a rich soil sometimes half an inch 
high, and with two or three branches towards the top. Barren flower in 
the bosom of the leaves. Lid none. Hedw. Only three or four lines 
high, but growing in patches is readily found, and the capsules not larger 
than a seed of tobacco, are very visible on account of the slenderness of 
the leaves. Dill. They frequently fall off without opening. 
Awl-leaved Earth-moss. Heaths in a sandy soil; ditch banks; not 
uncommon. A. March—Aug. 
P. serra'tum. Shoots thread-like, jointed, branched; leafits of the 
involucrum spear-shaped, serrated. Dicks. 
Dicks. 1. 1— Schreb. p. 8. t. 2— E. Bot. 460— Muse. Brit. v. E.) 
Extremely minute, at first sight resembling a thread-like Byssus, and would 
scarcely be obvious to the naked eye if it did not grow in patches. It 
seems a link which connects the Musci and the Algae, partaking of Phas¬ 
cum and Conferva. It consists of numerous green filaments, which 
through a glass appear creeping, cylindrical, branched, jointed like a 
Conferva, the interstices pellucid, the joints darker green. Branches alter¬ 
nate, forked, awl-shaped at the end. Capsules egg-shaped, pointed, ses¬ 
sile irregularly on the sides of the shoot near its base : tawny when ripe. 
It has no lid which separates. The involucrum consists of three or four 
spear-shaped leaves, pointed and serrated. Schreber and Weber seem 
not to have been aware that the jointed shoots belong to the plant. Dicks. 
(The veil is described as small, and of a pale brownish colour. Proba¬ 
bly the most diminutive of British Mosses. E.) 
(Serrated or Capillary-branched Earth-moss. E.) On the north 
side of Muswell Hill, near Highgate. Dickson. (Moist banks. Braid 
Hill marshes. Mr. G. Don. Grev. Edin. E.) April. 
(P. stoloniferum. Dicks. 7. 2. E. Bot. 2006. and With, to Ed. vii. is now 
considered a var. of this species ; but rather larger, the shoots longer, the 
space betwixt the joints longer, and the leafits bluntly toothed and reti¬ 
culated. Growing on clay near Walthamstow. E.) 
P. alternifo'lium. Fertile stem short: barren stems taller, upright: 
leaves alternate, awl-shaped. Dicks. 
Dicks. 1. 2—(j E. Bot. 2107— Muse. Brit. v. E.) 
Barren and fertile stems growing intermixed, and forming small green tufts. 
