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70 b ..m it ORTHOTRICHUM LONGÎPES.
Orthotrichum caule procumbente, ramis erectis, foliis
ovato-lanceolatis striatis siccitate tortis, seta longis-
sima, capsula ovali-elliptica lævi, calyptra glabra muU
tifida, ciliis nullis, dentibus 16 per paria approxima-
tis. (Tab. XXIV.)
H ab. In sinu Dusky Bay dicto, in Nova Zeelandia. D. McnxieSj
1791.
Caulis procumbens, valde ramosus. RamiviK unciam longi, erecti,
simplices vel divisi. Folia undique denseque imbricata, erecto-
appressa, apice subiiicurva, siccitate spiraliter torta, aureo-
flavescentia, subnitentia, lanceolata, obtusiuscula, striata vel
etiam subplicata, sub lente minute punctata, margine integerrima,
nervo valido fusco, sub summum apicem evanescenre,
instructa. Perichcetialia bis similiima sed paululum augusti-
ora, estriata. Selce terminales, numerosæ, sed .sæpisslme, ex
caulis innovationibus, laterales, biunciales, erectÆ, flexuosæ, ru-
bræ. Capsula oblongo-elliptica, sordide fusca, lævis vel ad oris
marginem solummodo sulcata, erecta. Operculum subulatum,
strictum, capsula vix brevius, flavescens. Calyptra glabra, mitriformis,
castanea, usque ad apicem sulcata, basi ad dimidiam
partem in segmenta angusta numerosa fissa. Peristomium
simplex, 16-dentatum, dentibus longiUsculis per paria ap-
proximatis, pallidis, transversim obscure striatis atque linea
media longitudinali notatis, erectis vel declinatis.
On the first aspect of this plant I conceived that it and some
other Australasian individuals vvith the same habit would have belonged
to the genus Sclotheimia of Bridel and Schaegrichen; but
after the most minute investigation I am unable to detect any internal
peristome (though I think that the columella, which before
the ripening of the cap.sule is exserted, might by a casual observer
be mistaken for one), or any character which can induce me
to keep it distinct from Orthotrichum, many of which, as is sufficiently
well known, have only a single peristome.
Fig. 1, plant when moist. Fig. 2, ditto, when dry, nat. size.
Fig. 3, 3, leaves. Fig. 4, apex of ditto. Fig. 5, portion of a
branch and periehaetium. Fig. 6, capsule. Fig. 7, ditto, with
the operculum. Fig. 8, ditto, showing the peristome. Fig. 9,
portion of the peristome.—magn.
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