i i/le [ 2164 ]
GRIMMIA splachnoides.
Splach'noid Grimmia.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musd.
G en. Char. F r in ge simple, of 16 teeth, broadest at
their base. F lowe rs terminal. V e i l cylindrical.
S pec. Char. Leaves spatulate, finely serrated. Cap-
sule globose, smooth. Fruit-stalk swelling at the
top.
Syn. Grimmia splachnoides. Sm. FI. Brit. 1197.
Splachnum longicollum. Dicks. Crypt, fasc. 4. 4.
t. 1 0 ./. 9.
Weisia splachnoides. Swartz Mss.
F o u n d in the Highlands of Scotland by Mr. Dickson, to
■whom we are obliged for native specimens with fruit in an
early stage of growth. That with ripe capsules was sent by
Dr. Swartz from Lapland, with the name above quoted.
The stems are erect, scarcely branched, leafy, an inch and
half high. Leaves loosely imbricated, pale green, finely reticulated
and serrated, spatulate, acute, single-ribbed. Fruit-
stalk an inch and half high, wavy, purple; paler and greenish
at the top, where it swells gradually up to the capsule, imitating
the apophysis of a Splachnum, to which genus the
leaves also bear a great affinity. Capsule upright when ripe,
globular, very smooth, pale brown or reddish, with a rather
wide red mouth. Fringe of 16 equidistant, short, inflexed,
.reddish-brown teeth. Lid convex with a very short blunt
point. Veil rather conical.
The habit of this moss is so like a Splachnum, that we do not
wonder it should have been thought such; but there is no
real apophysis, nor is the fringe that of a Splachnum. Weisia
radians, Hedw. Sp. Muse. 73. t. 13. f. 1—4, is nearly related
to our plant.