Stems 6 -12 in. high, simple or bipartite, robust, reddish
brown ; cells of the peripheral layers strongly incrassate, brownish
red ; cuticular cells in 3 -4 strata, the innermost being the largest,
the external rectangular, fibrose, and with several foramina. Stem
leaves reflexed, small, lingulate-spathulate, ve ry slightly fimbriate
at the rounded apex ; cells all smaller and narrower than in Sph.
papillosum, the basal hyaline ; fibres and pores usually absent.
Ramuli 4-5 in a fascicle, 2-3 divergent, arcuate, turgid, acute
and attenuated at apex, the others pendent, attenuated, appressed
to stem; cuticular cells densely fibrose, rectangular, foraminate,
without any mixture o f retort cells.
L ea ve s o f d ivergent branches dense, soft, ovate, deeply concave,
more prolonged and a little recurved at apex, which does not differ
in colour from the rest o f the leaf, and is also less cucullate, more
entire and less serrulate than in Sph. papillosum; when dry the
margins are often distinctly undulated. Cells much smaller, the
hyaline internally never papillose on the periphery, the chlorophyllose
subtrigono-ovate, and somewhat nearer to the concave
margin o f the section.
Perichætial bracts laxer, less cucullate and plicate, rounded
obtuse at apex; cells v e ry small in centre o f bract, all the lower
uniform prosenchymatico-rectangular, with several rows o f normal
hyaline ones at margin, the upper part bordered by a series o f
ve ry long narrow cells.
Spores ochraceous. Male plants with short, ochraceous, purplish
or olivaceous amentula placed in the coma ; the bracts cochleari-
concave, resembling the branch leaves in structure.
H a b .— Deep bogs and turbaries in the lowlands. Frequent throughout Europe
and N. America. Fr. July.
T h is species is the type o f Linnseus’s Sph. palustre, and
Lindberg retains the same appellation for it; but since Linnajus
referred all the Sphagna to it, I prefer to use the name by which
it was first distinguished as a separate species.
T his peat-moss is v e ry variable in size and colour, and sometimes
forms beds o f great extent, free from admixture with other species,
but occasionally it may be found growing intermixed with Sph.
papillosum, each retaining its distinctive characters. It may
generally be distinguished from the latter species by its softer and
more attenuated branches, with the leaves o f thinner texture, with
longer and narrower points, and the chlorophyllose cells narrower
and quite smooth.
No. 8/5 o f my L xs icca ta belongs to Sph. papillosum, and if
contrasted with the male plant of Sph. cymbifolium it will be seen
that the inflorescence stands out almost free from barren cornai
branches, while in Sph. cymbifolium they are long and closely surround
the male amentula ; the colour o f the latter species also,
generally partakes somewhat o f a bluish white tint.
Var. /8. congestum, Schimp.
Stems 2-5 in. high, densely tufted in large, compact cushions,
pale yellow, bluish red or brownish purple above, intermixed
with green, dirty brownish yellow below, somewhat rigid. Stem
leaves often fibrose in the upper part. Branches densely crowded,
ascending, short, thick, fusiform, their leaves ve ry concave and
closely imbricated ; pendent ones ve ry slender, often white.
S y n o n .— Sph. cymhifolium var. congestum, S c h im p . Torfm. p. 6 9 , t. xix. f. /3 r ;
Synops. p. 6 8 5 , et ed. 2, p. 8 48 . B r a i t h w . Sphag. Brit. Exsic. n. 10.
Sph. compactum, B r i d . Bry. Univ. p . p . ( s e c . Schimper).
Sph. cymUfolium var. compactum, et purpurascens, Russow, Torfm. p. 80.
H a b .— In drier parts of extensive peat-moors, and places cleared of turf. Frequent.
This variety is remarkable for the various tints it assumes,
and these are not always preserved b y drying, but often become
dull blue or brown. It also occurs under two fo rm s ; one in e x tremely
dense cushions o f large size, as in specimens from Witherslack,
Westmoreland, sent b y Mr. Barnes ; the other laxer, and o f a
more rosy tint above and pale below, ve ry conspicuous by the
abundant heads o f deep purple male inflorescence. In some copies
of my Lxsicc. specimens o f Sph. papillosum var. slenophyllum
have been placed under No. 10 b y mistake.
Var. y. squarrosulum, N . H s ch . S t .
Plants slender, in loose dark-green tufts, often with a dingy
shade b e low ; divergent branches turgid, loose, their leaves more
pointed and patulous, somewhat squarrose, those o f the comal
branches distinctly squarrose.
S y n o n .— N. H s c h . S t . Bryol. Germ. i. p. 8 (1823). B r i d . Bry. Univ. i. p . 4.
Russow, Torfm. p. 80. B r a i t h w . Sphag. Brit. Exsic. n. 9.
Sph. cymbifolioides, B r e u t e l , in Regens. Flora, 1824, p. 435. B r i d . Bry. Univ.
i. p. 749.
H a b .— In woods and shady banks of ditches.
A