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H e d w ig iu s etenim capsulam subpyriformem cernuam, S w a r t -
ziu s vero urceolatam erectam sistit, ille folia uninèrvia, hic ener-
via dicit. W e b e k et M o h r autem folia binervia esse affirmant,
et ab Hypno molli auctorum minime séparant. Sen-
tentiam ferre non audeo.”
I t is greatly to be regretted that we have not more original
examinations of this species to consult. H e d w ig figured it
from S w a r t z ’s specimens ; and of these two authors, as we
have seen, one finds the leaves nerveless, the other provided
with a single nerve. Then come W e b e r and M o h r , who
unite it to Hypnum molle, and maintain that S w a r t z ’s
plant, instead of being nerveless, or 1-nerved, is really 2-nerved ;
and in this they are correct, as I have myself ascertained. I
do not possess the Fasc. Crypt, of D ic k s o n ; but W e b e r
and M o h r say there can be no doubt that his H . molle is precisely
the same as H . alpestre of S w a r t z ; yet, as it were,
to carry confusion a little farther, he is said to have given to
the leaves a single excurrent nerve. S c h w a e g r ic h e n , in
Sp. Muse. II. terms the leaves in the specific character semi-
hinervia,—quotes W e b e r and M o h r as authority for the
species (after H e d w ig ), though they have it not, and makes
no observation upon the Hedwigian figure, representing the
leaves as 1-nerved. Again, W e b e r and M o h r are not correct
in saying the nerves of their H . molle are one-third the
length of the leaf, as I have seen them both two-thirds, and so
short as scarcely to be perceived at all. In my own figure, I
have drawn the leaves with a rather long and firm single nerve,
such as I have always observed in Scottish and Swiss specimens.
The fructification I have been obliged to borrow from
the latter, as I have not had the good fortune to meet with it
in this country, hlay not, after all, the H . alpestre of S w a r t z
be a distinct species from the H . alpestre now represented ?
Or is the peculiar appearance of the former derived from local
circumstances ; such as growing by the side of streams, instead
of on the rocks forming their bed ?
Fig. 1. Hypn. alpestre, natural size. Fig. 2 . Lower leaf frwn the branches.
Fig. 3. Upper leaf. Fig. 4. Perichcetium, with fruitstalk and capsule.
Fig. 5. Periclmtial leaf. Fig. 6. Capsule, with the operculum ; magnified.