[ I039 ]
HYPNUM fcorpioides.
Scorpion Hypnum.
CRYPTOGAMIA Mußt.
Gen. Char. Fringe double: outer of 16 tapering
teeth : inner a toothed membrane. Flowers lateral.
Fruit-ßalk from a fcaly theath.
Spec. Char. Stem procumbent. Branches fcattered,
fwelling upwards. Leaves ovate, acute, concave,
curved all one way, without a midrib. Capfules
drooping. Lid conical.
Sy n . Hypnum fcorpioides. Linn. Sp. PI. 15 9 2 .
Hudf. 5 0 1 . With. 856. Hull. 2 7 1 . Relh. 4 1 2 .
Abbot. 249. Dick/. H. Sicc. fa ß . 3 . 2 2 . Hedw.
Sp. Muß. 2 9 5 .
H . fcorpioides paluftre magnum, Lycopodii inftar
fparfum. Dill. Muß. 290. t. 3 7 . f . 25 .
C o m m u n ic a t e d from Cambridgefhire by the Rev. Mr.
Hemfted. It grows on turfy bogs, and is laid to be more frequent
in the mountainous or northern counties than with us. Mr.
Pitchford and the Rev. Mr. Bryant found it long ago on
Felthorpe bogs 3 or 6 miles north of Norwich, where many
other fcarce plants have been difcovered.
The item is procumbent, leafy, bearing many Ihort, irregularly
fcattered, branches, likewife leafy, which are taper
at their bafe, thicker upward, ending in a hooked leafy point,
and generally not fubdivided. The leaves are ovate, concave,
acute, entire, membranous and Alining, without a rib, clofely
imbricated, their tips all pointing towards one fide, which is
moft remarkable in the younger part of the branches. Each
fruit-ftalk fprings from a lateral, axillary, very fcaly {heath,
and is ere£t, taper, and red. Capfule incurved; when ripe,
yellow on the under fide, brown above. Lid conical, {harp.
Veil tipped with brown. Fringe yellow.
When the leaves grow long immerfed in water, they become
of a dark rich brown, the young ones only remaining of a
yellowilh or tawny green.