patulous coma, from a lon gly sheathing oblong glossy whitish thin base,
lineal-lanceolate, yellow-green or somewhat glaucous, when dry arcuato-
incurved, the wings more or less undulated, very concave, nerve stout,
te re te , excurrent in a short mucro ; cells at base hyaline, small elongated
rectangular, slanting upward from the nerve to the margin, suddenly
joined by the oval chlorophyllose cells, which become rounded subquadra
te toward apex. Perich. b ra c ts similar, but a little more elongated,
caps, erect on a subflexuose se ta w hich is yellowish above, purple at
base, leptodermous, oblong and ob longo-cylindraceous, pale yellow-
brown with a red mouth, ligh tly sulca te when dry ; lid conic-rostra te,
not annulate, teeth long filiform, equal, purple, on a narrow basa l membrane,
e re c t or slightly twisted. Male plant simple or divided, b ra c ts
ov ate , acuminate.
H a b .— Sandy ground near the co a s t; S. of England, not common and always
sterile. Fr. 5.
Shoreham beach and Seaford [Borrer 1837) ! Ditten marsh {Wilson 1859). Howth,
Portmarnock sands, Dublin and Arklow (Moore 1859) !! Malahide and Ross Bay
(Carrington 1861) ! Below Staddon heights, Plymouth (Holmes 1867) ! ! Below Menai
declivity (Hunt 1868) ! St. Minver, Cornwall (Tellam 1871) ! Hayle sands and Newlyn
cliff (Cnrnoto 1872)!! Dingle bay (Lindberg 1873)!! Wembury and Dartmouth
(Holmes 18S3) !! Mawgar Forth, Cornwall (Holmes 1884) ! ! Southport (Burgess and
Holt 1885) !! Rabbit warren, St. Anne’s on the sea (Cash 1884)! 1 Largo Links
(Howie) ! !
Readily known by its soft texture and interruptedly comose leaves, with
their obliquely ascending basal cells ; in habit it comes nearest M. humilis
(H e d w .), and the leaf also resembles that of M. inclinata so closely that it is
sometimes very difficult to decide between barren specimens.
21. MOLLIA NITIDA Lindb.
Dio icou s ; com p a c tly tufted. L e a v e s linear-lanceolate, a cute , the
apex gen erally broken off, circina to-incurv ed when dry, paler and
shining on the back, mucronate with the excur rent nerve. Cap s, cylin dric,
teeth small and imperfect. (T. X X X V I I , A.)
S y n . -T o r tu la nitida L in d b . de Tort. 252 (1864), Hedwigia iv. 40 (1865), Journ. Linn soc.
Bot. xi, 464 {1871). B r a i t h w , Journ. Bot. 1871, p. 294. H o b k . Syn. br. m. 73 (1873).
Barbula Alexandrina Lo r. in Abhand. ak. wiss. Berk 1867, pp. 32— 33, t. 6— 7.
Trichostomum diffractum M i t t , in S e e m . Journ. B o t . 1868, p. 98, t . 7 7 , f. 5 — 6.
Trichostomum Barbula (non S c h w a e g .) L a n g e in Bot. Tids. ii, 235 (1868).
Barbula nitida G e a v e t in Rev. bryol. 1874, p. 19. J u r a t z . Lanbm. oesterr.-ung. 121
(1882).
Trichostomum nitidum S c h im p . Synops. 2 ed. 179 (1876). P h i l i b . in Rev. bryol. 1878, p.
27. et 1883, p. 77. H u s n o t M us c . gall. 87, t. 24 (1885).
D io ico u s ; in small dense pulvinate tufts, olivaceous-green or
yellowish-green above, rufo-fuscous or blackish at base, stems robust,
dichotomous, dense-leaved, tomentose below. L e a v e s g rad ua lly
ac c re s c en t upward, very fragile and breaking off in the upper part, from
a short erect base, pa tent when moist, arcuato-incurved when dry, the
wings inflexo-complicate, glossy and shining on the back, lineal-lanceolate,
at apex more or less longly acuminate, or suddenly almost apiculate,
concave, the margin plane and subundulate, finely crenulate with
projec ting cells, base subvaginant, with la x elongated hyaline cells,
which are small and run upward and outward to the margin, the other
cells very minute, rounded quadrate, green, papillose on both sides ;
nerve stout, pale green, finally brownish, prominent on the back, excurrent
in a short mucro. Pe rich. b ra cts small, lanceolate-subulate, with excurrent
nerve, seta purple at base, passing to y e llow above, caps, oblongo-
cylindric, pale brown with a red mouth, faintly su lca te when old,
annulus indistinct, lid J length o f caps, obliquely rostrate, pale red,
teeth o f per. very short and irregular, truncate, y ellow, papillose. Male
infl. minute, gemmiform, in the axils o f the upper leaves ; bra cts 3 or 4,
broad, oblong, with a narrow ligula te upper half, nerve vanishing.
H ab.— Calcareous rocks and walls.
C a r n e lly an d S t . M ic h a e l’ s c h a p e l, T o r q u a y (Borrer). S t . V in c e n t ’ s ro c k s an d D u rd h am
clown s (Thwaites 1843) ! ! G r e e n a le ig h , M in eh e a d (Miss Gifford 1868) ! ! P e n z a n c e
(Curnow) ! ! I . o f P u rb e c k , P lym o u th an d C o r fe c a s t le (Holmes 1865) ! ! L y nm o u th ,
D n r le s to n e h e a d an d P e v e r i l p o in t , S w a n a g e (Holmes 1883) ! ! D o v e d a le a t th e o p en in g
o f H a lld a le (Holmes 1875) ! ! G r a n g e an d A rn s id e (B osw cU 1873) ! ! C h e d d a r (Boswell
1873) ! ! M e n d ip h i lls (Boswell 1880) ! ! S h a u g h b r id g e , D e v o n (Holmes 1884).
C o lv e n d , S c o t la n d (Cash a n d McAndrew 1883) ! ! R u in s a t In n is fa llen (Stewart an d
Holt 1885) I ! O ’ D o n o g h u e ’ s P r is o n , L o u g h L e a n e g (Holt 1885) ! ! M o u s e is la n d ,
K i l la r n e y (Holt 1885). W h i tb a r r o w , W e s tm o r e la n d (Barnes ¡8 7 1 ) ! !
Leaves longer and broader than in M. braehydontia, all circularly arcuato-
incurved when dry, and glossy at the back. The fruit has only been found
at Angoulême, in France, by M. Philibert in 1867, for some of whose specimens
I am indebted to the kindness of M. Husnot. Some botanists have
been disposed to refer this moss to Mollia tortuosa, but they are quite distinct,
and the glossy stiff little cushions of M. nitida have an aspect so peculiar that
it may always be identified by the naked eye alone.
22. MOLLIA INCLINATA (Hedw. fil.) Lindb.
Dioicous ; densely tufted. L e a v e s elongate, lineal, undulate, suddenly
pointed, mucronate with the excurrent nerve. Cap s, oval-oblong, c e r nuous
; peristome twisted. (T. X X X V I I , B.)
S y n .— Barbula nervosa B r id . Musc. rec. II, P. I, igg p.p. (1798), Mant. 95 p.p. t. ig (iSig).
Tortula inclinata H e d w . f i b . in W e b . M o h r Beitr. i, 123, t. 5 (1805). H o o k . G r e v . m
B r e w s t . Edin. J. i, 298(1824). D e N o t , in Mem. acc. lo rm. xl, 322 (1838), Syllab.
181 (1838), Musc. ital. I, 65, t. 33 (1S62), Epil. bri. ital. 55S (1869). L in d b . De Tort.
252 (1864). H o b k . Syn. br. m. 2 ed. (1884). Bosw. Journ. Bot. 1874, p. i, t. 139.
Tortula nervosa B r id . Sp. musc. I, 262 p.p. (1806).
Tortula curvata S c h l e i c h . Cat. pl. helv. 30 (1807).