P
Tliis beautiful plant is larger than the typical form, and has quite tlie
asp.ert o f a distinct species, but the differences are too slight to afford
satisfactory characters. The Scotch specimens have a fine rosy purple tint,
and are much more robust than those from Yorkshire.
Var. y. Hamata. L in d b . in lit.
Leaves rather lax, somewhat glossy, fuscous, green on the young shoots,
strongly falcate, gradually narrowed upward from the base.
Wet rocks at Carfury, H a b .— Luggielaw, Wicklow (Lindberg 1873) ! Madron near Penzance
(Curnow and Marquand 1879) ! !
This variety forms the transition between the type and var. falcata,
agremng with the latter in habit and falcate leaves, but with the former in
the base of the leaf, and m the lamina being distinct to apex, as well as in
tlie softer texture.
Var. 8. Falc.ata. ( S c h im p .) L in d b .
More slender, black, leaves falcato-secund, from a broadly obovate base
suddenly lanceolate-subulate; nerve flattened, vanishing at apex, lamina
very narrow above, faintly eroso-emarginate just below point.
Hist. Muse. 507, n. 40
V k ^ S « c ” M r r9 ^ 7 i7 4 ^ ^ ^ acuminatis hinc rcflexis L.
^ ( ' r f S r i n t H t S ? "■ “ ('^53) i et FI. Suec. z ed. 40Z, n. 1043. p.p.
s i r ® m Z ’ i? " I n ’’ - Men- t. XII, Syn. Muse. 669,
Andr. Rothii Var. fl. fapillosa C. M u e l l. Syn. Muse, i, g.
Andr. Rothii Var. S. falcata Lindb. in [it.
Alpine rocks ; not uncommon.
^ i.Schimfer rSSj) ! ! Stye-barrow crag and Scawfell
Cad VaUev n Jr Grasmere (Boswell 1876) ! ! Sheep’s Tor. Shaugh Bridge and
and Glvd/r’ ^ a c l ' i J I l T =("3 Gsorj-s) ! ! Cader Idris (Pearson 1876) ! ! Tynfy-gros
Ben Lawers P-'t" (George) ! ! S cotland-
Although at first sight, the sudden narrowing of the leaf above the base
would seem to indicate that this is a good species, a careful examination of
many specimens from all parts has satisfied me that it must sink to the rank
01 a variety, an opinion to which Prof. Lindberg has also arrived ; for this
character is not constant, as other leaves on the same plants will be found
to a p r o a c h much nearer m outline to those of A . Rothii, and the notching
in the apical margin is equally liable to variation, being sometimes hardly
perceptible, or altogether absent. The series of cells in the apical lamina
appcM to afford some distinctive characters, their relative proportions being
5 m A.Rothn and 3 m A . falcata, but we have only to compare young leaves
rom the coma with older ones from the lower part of the stem, to find that
betweT^hem"' scarcely possible to draw a line sharply
Neither is the falcate direction of the leaves a character to be depended
on, for Prof. Lindberg sends specimens collected by Hartman, at Varstien,
in the Dovrefjeld, in which the leaves spread out equally on all sides, though
with the abruptly dilated, concave base of typical r i . /afcaia. W e believe
that Wilson until his death maintained that A . Rothii, falcata and crassinervis
only constituted a single species. A low mammillar papillosity is also
observable on the cells of the upper part of the leaf in the var. falcata, but
this will also be distinguished in A . Rothii, after treatment with caustic
alkali.
S e c t . z . C H A SM O C A L Y X . L i n d b .
L e a v e s and perichætial b ra c ts alike in form, the la tte r patent,
distinctly nerved. Capsule deeply cleft into 4, 5 or 8 valves.
5. A. N IV A IIS. Hooker.
Dio icous ; stem elongated, lea ves la xly imbricated, papillose on
both sides, fa lca to -se cu n d, lanceo late , nerved to a p e x ; perichætial
bracts resembling the leaves. (T. I I b.)
S y n .— Xnrfi-. nivalis H o o k . Trans. Lin. Soc. X, 395, 1. 3 1 , f. 4 {1810) ; Eng. Bot. t. 2334 (18 1 1 ) .
H o o k . T a y . Muse. Brit. 2, t, 8 (18 18). G r a y Nat. Arr. Br. PI. i, 709, n. 4 (iSzr). H o o k .
El. Scot. P. 2, i z i ( i8 2 z ) . B r id . Bry. Univ. ii, 73 2 (1827). S c h w a e g . Snppl. I ll , P. I,
t. 248 (1828). H a r tm . Skand. El. 5 ed. 404 (184g). C. M u e l l . Syn. Muse, i, 9 (1849).
W i l s . Bry. Brit. 13 , t. 8 (185 5). S c h im p , Bry. Eur. vi, Mon. 2 5 , t. XIV (1855) ; Syn.
Muse, 670 {1S60), et 2 ed., 822 (1876). B e r k , Handb. Br. M.310 (1863). D e N o t . Epil.
Briol. Ital. 750 (1869). H o b k . Syn, Br. M. 22 (1873).
A. nivalis Var. ¡3. Z e t t e r s t . Mon. Andr, Scand. 23 (1855).
A. nivalis Var. f3. Zctterstedtii H a r tm . Skand. El. 7 ed. 400 (1858).
f ungerm, nivalis H u e b e n . Hep. Germ. 306 {1834).
Dio icous ; in soft, blackish-green, rufescent or fuscous, widely
spreading tufts. Stem s 3-4 in. high, slender, elongated, reddish,
decumbent a t base, ascending, flexuose, dichotomously branched.
Le a v e s patent, rather distant, secund ; soft, the lower smaller, ovato-
lanceolate, the upper falcato-secund, from an oblong base, gradually
lanceolate, acute, densely papillose on both sides ; the nerve narrow,
subterete, lost in the apex, fuscous, prominent at back ; areolation
laxer, soft, rotundato-quadrate above, elongato-quadrate at base.
Perichætial bra cts divergent, precisely resembling the leaves ; capsule a
little exserted, oblong, c le ft to base into 6, or more rarely 4, narrow
valves. C a lyp tra v ery small, conical.
Male plants in distinct tufts, th e infl. la teral by innovation, distinct,
gemmiform ; b ra c ts numerous, ovato-lanceola te, inner roundish, a cuminate
nerveless ; antheridia 4-6, paraphyses numerous, longer.