[ 1 2 3 8 ]
MNIUM androgynum.
'Narrow-leaved Spring-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
G en. Char. Caps, cylindrical, at length furrowed.
Outer fringe of 16 tapering teeth ; inner a laci-
niated membrane. Veil smooth. Flowers terminal.
S pec. Char. Monoecious. Capsule straight. Lid conical.
Leaves imbricated every way, spreading,
toothed at the point.
Syn. Mninm androgynum. Linn. Sp. PL 1574. Huds.
472. Hedw. Theor. 149. t. 12. f . 48-—50.
M. perangustis et brevibus foliis. Dill. Muse. 230.
t. 3 1 . j . 1. Rail Syn. 78.
Bryum androgynum. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 178. With.
836. Hull. 262. Abbot. 238.
I t was with singular pleasure I found, on a careful scrutiny
of the genera of mosses for the Flora Britannica, that the
original genus of Mnium in Dillenius ought on every account
to be preserved separate from Bryum, and that the furrowed
capsule formed its decisive and unexceptionable character.' No
real Bryum has any signs of this character; nor any Hypnum,
except the undulatum, a moss so peculiar in other respects as
to merit further inquiry.
M. androgynum grows in moist shady boggy places, flowering
in March, when its little powdery heads of male blossoms,
standing on tender' terminal stalks, may not unfrequently be
observed; but the-capsules, which ripen in April or May, are
very rarely produced. Our figure was drawn from Mr. Turner’s
herbarium.
The stems form dense perennial tufts, and are branched and
leafy. Leaves bright-green, pellucid, dotted, imbricated in
every direction, lanceolate, single-ribbed, acute, somewhat
revolute, finely toothed towards the point. Fruit-stalks solitary,
on the same plant with the male flowers, shining, red
below, yellow above. Capsule nearly upright, cylindrical,
deeply furrowed. Lid short, conical, blunt, striated, a little
curved. Outer fringe with taper-pointed teeth j inner finely
ciliated.