2942. J ig . 1.
HYPNUM pumilum.
D w a r f t i y p n u m .
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. F r u i ts ta l k s lateral.outer one of 16 teeth P e r is to m e double : ; inner, a membrane cut imnteod ia1t6e efqiluifaolr mse gpmroecnetsss,e sa.n d usually with interC
a ly p tr a dimidiate. Specv. eCryh amri. nuDtei o; icboruasn. cheSst evmer yc rseleepnidnegr,. haLire-alivkees, spreading, ovate, serrulate, nerved half-way. Fruitstalk rough. Capsule ovate, cernuous. Lid beaked.
T h i s extremelyminuteand delicate species, whose branches
are scarcely discernible by the naked eye, has probably been
often overlooked from the resemblance of its foliage to that of
H. serpens. It was found near Cork in Ireland, by the writer
of this article, in December 1829; afterwards on the Romantic
Rocks, Matlock, December 1833. He then received it from
Mr. Borrer, gathered at Woodmancote, Sussex, March 1837,
under the name of H. Swartzii f3. Turn., and at length detected
it, as a new species, in December 1842, growing on
the side of an old quarry of red sandstone at Winwick near
Warrington, bearing plenty of perfect fruit. It is now known
to grow in several parts of England, on hedge-banks.
Stems creeping or procumbent, much interwoven, scarcely
thicker than a human hair, irregularly branched, seldom pinnate.
Branches very short and slender, mostly simple. Leaves
very minute, those of the principal stem ovate-acuminate, the
margin not recurved at the base nor decurrent, those of the
branches distantly inserted, sometimes (as in the Winwick
specimens, from which our figure is taken,) distichous, ovate,
acute, very slightly concave, the margin somewhat reflexed,
obscurely serrulate, shrinking very much when dry, the cellules
rather large, nerve ceasing about the middle. Perichsetial
leaves very short, not covering the bulb-like vaginula, acuminate
and recurved above, whitish, almost destitute of nerve.
Fruitstalk not quite half an inch long, rough, reddish brown.
Capsule of the same colour, ovate, cernuous, furnished with
an evident annulus. Lid obliquely rostrate, generally a little