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HYPNUM alpinum..
A Ipine-torrent Feather-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musd.
Gen. Char. Caps, ovate-oblong, from a lateral scaly
sheath. Outer fringe of 16 teeth, dilated at the base:
inner a variously-toothed membrane. Veil smooth.
Spec. Char. Stem creeping. Branches clustered.
Leaves ovate, concave, pointed, with one rib reaching
to the middle; the upper ones curved.
Syn. Hypnum alpinum. Sm. FI. Brit. 1330. Turn.
Muse. Hib. 192.
H. flagellare. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 282. t. 73. f . 1— 3;
the synonyms all wrong.
S e NT by Mr. Winch from the north of England. Mr. Turner
had previously observed it on rocks in the alpine regions of
Snowdon, washed by the torrent of Llyn Fynnon Lis, and
had also received it from Ireland. Mr. Dickson found it in
the alpine rivulets of Scotland, intermixed with his real
H. flagellare; and the latter not being in fructification, he,
as it seems, described the capsules of this as belonging to it.
Those most deeply versed in botany know how easily such
mistakes happen. Some of his specimens therefore of this
moss only reached Hedwig, who figures them as H. flagellare
of Dickson, which is a different plant, whose fructification has
not yet been observed. See FI. Brit. 1322.
H. alpinum has shortish creeping stems, which throw up
clusters of short, thickish, upright, leafy branches. Leaves
dull green, ovate, sharply pointed, concave, entire, smooth
and even, with a rib which vanishes about the middle of the
leaf. The upper leaves are of a light shining green, and a little
curved to one side, but scarcely enough to justify the placing
this plant in the section foliis circinalilms, were it not for its
affinities. Sheaths loosely spreading. Stalks red. Capsule
inclining, ovate, short. Lid conical, very acute.