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ANDRÆA Rothii.
S la ck Mountain Androea.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musd.
G en. Char. Caps, oblong, o f four valves, whose
points adhere to the lid. Fringe none.
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, keeled, sickle-shaped,
with a midrib, leaning one way. Sheath-scales without
a rib.
Syn. Andræa Rothii. Mohr. Crypt. Germ. 385. Al l .
f . 7—9. Hooker s Mss.
A . rupestrjs. Sm. FI. Brit. 1178, Turn. Muse.
Hib. 14,
Lichenastrum alpinum nigricans, foliis capillaceis re-
flexis. Dill. Muse. 507. t. 73, f , 40,
O lJR friend Mr. W . Hooker has enabled us to jcorrect an
error into which we had fallen concerning a/, rupestris, t. 1277,
nor were we singular in this mistake. The present plant, often
gathered by us in Scotland and Westmoreland, proves distinct
from the A . rupestris, with which we, like Linnaeus, had confounded
it, though aware of a difference in colour, which
might have excited a more accurate scrutiny.
This grows upon dry exposed rocks* and is of a very dark
blackish hue, though readily discernible by the paler reddish-
brown capsules. The leaves, having a midrib, distinguish it
from rupestris, though their penchaetial scales nearly agree. |
We learn also frofn Mr. Hooker’s paper, communicated to
the Linnaean Society, that the supposed 4 teeth of the fringe,
are in fact valves of the capsule, as appears by the columella,
equal to them in length, which bears the seeds over its whole
surface.
2l&.