I 'f # .
N ECKER A heteromalla.
L a te r a l N eckera.
CRYPTOGAMIA Mufci.
Gen. Char. Fringe double: outer o f 16 tapering
teeth: inner o f 16 capillary alternate ones. Flowers
lateral. Veil fmooth. •
S pec. Char. Stem branched, fpreading. Leaves
ovate, pointed, concave, imbricated. Capfules
leaning one way.
Syn. Neckera heteromalla. Hedw. Sp. Mufc. 20a.
Crypt, v . 3. 38. t. 15. Sibth. 304. -
Sphagnum arboreum. Linn. dp. PL 1570. Hudf.äfi3.
Abbot. 239.
S, heteromallum polycephalum. B ill. Mufc. 248.
t. 32. ƒ. 6.
S. cauliferum et ramofum minus hirfutum, capitulis
crebris pilofis per ramulorum longitudinem ad-
nafcentibus. Raii Syn. 105.
Fontinalis tecunda. W ith. 790. Hull. 273. D ick f
Dr. PI. 18.
Phafcum repens. W ith. 785 !
I t feems this mofs has been hitherto obferved in England
only, nor is it common with us. It grows on the trunks of
trees, the elegantly pinnate ftems fpreading" clofe to the bark,
and ripens its fruit in the fpring. Our fpecimens were gathered
by the Rev. Dr. Abbot in Clapham wood, Bedfordthire.
The ftems are wiry and firm, doubly pinnate, their branches
all over clothed with imbricated, ovate, pointed, concave,
entire, keeled leaves, each with a central rib : thcfe that
envelope the capfules, which ftand folitary at the end of each
branch and all lean to one fide of the ftem, are tipped with a
confiderable point or awn. The capfule is elliptical, reddifh
brown, fmooth and even. Fringe double ; the outer of 16
apering teeth; the inner ofasmanyftnaller capillary and thin
ones, ftanding alternately with the former. Lid conical, pale
and thin. Veil brown, of nearly the fame form, jagged at the
edge.
Other fpecies of this genus already figured in the prefent
work are Neckera cnfpa, t. 6x7 . and N. viticulofa, t. 365.
JitneJ-. hy JaS Sotvei-iy. Ijorft/mi.