2835
BRYUM gracile.
Slender Thread-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. Fruit-stalk terminal. Peristome double ;
outer, of 16 teeth; inner, a membrane divided
into 16 equal segments, usually with intermediate
filiform processes. Calyptra dimidiate.
Spec. Char. Stems tufted. Leaves crowded, linear-
subulate, wavy, entire, nerved nearly to the summit.
Capsule inclined, narrowly obovate, tapering
below. Outer peristome incurved. Lid conical,
with a short bea,k.
Syn. Orthodontium lineare. Schwaegr. Suppl. v.
2. P. 2. 124. t. 188. ?
O n the sandstone rocks at Helsby and Frodsham, in
Cheshire, being the northern termination of Delamere
Forest, abundant, March 25th, 1833.
Stems irregularly clustered, usually less than half an
inch long; sometimes two or three inches in a barren state,
and more or less branched. Leaves much crowded, erect,
somewhat crisped when dry, very narrow at the base and
gradually tapering upwards, the lower ones especially wavy
or flexuose, keeled, with a faint nerve gradually disappearing
near the summit, the margin slightly recurved, and very
obscurely toothed in consequence of the occasionally prominent
marginal areolae. Fruit-stalks pale red, very slender,
slightly curved, about half an inch long, occasionally in
pairs. Capsule inclined, pyriform-oblong, gradually tapering
downwards into the fruit-stalk where it forms a kind of