i o 1
B R Y U M annotinum.
Summer Thread-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
G en. Char. O u t e r f r i n g e of 16 teeth, broad at the
base: i n n e r a toothed membrane. F l o w e r s terminal.
C a p s u l e ovate-oblong, smooth. V e i l smooth.
Spec. C h a r . Stem branched from the base. Leaves
ovato-lanceolate, pellucid, keeled, somewhat serrated.
Capsule obovate, pendulous.
Syn. Bryum annotinum. H e d i v . S p . M u s e . 183. t . 43.
S m . F I . B r i t . 1358. H u d s . 490. H u l l . 255.
S i h t l i . 291. T u r n . M u s e . H i h . 123.
B. annotinum lanceolatum pellucidum, capsulis ob-
longis pendulis. D i l l . M u s e . 399. t . 50. f . 68.
Mnium annotinum. L i n n . S p . P I . 1576. W i t h . 805.
T h is moss is frequent enough on moist turfy ground, but
very rarely indeed produces any capsules. We have gathered
it in fruit once onlv, on Seaming common, Norfolk, in May
1780. The Rev. Dr. Abbot sent specimens from the thatch
of a cottage near Bedford. Th'e stellated male blossoms frequently
occur.
The roots are probably perennial. Stems red, erect, leafy;
those of the male plants simple, zigzag, with one terminal
stellated blossom : those of the female ones very short, each
bearing a terminal fruit-stalk, and throwing out several tall
leafy simple branches from the bottom. Leaves of a bright
transparent green, finely reticulated, lanceolate inclining to
obovate, keeled, with a rib ending in a point, serrated in their
\ upper part. Fruit-stalk red, wavy, an inch and half long.
Capsule pendulous, pear-shaped. Lid conical, very short,
pointed, reddish when ripe. Fringe pale.
As this species so rarely bears fruit, and yet so frequently
occurs^we presume it to be perennial, though Dillenius seems
to think otherwise. Perhaps it may generally be increased by
buds, which are often borne in the bosoms of the leaves of
the male plant, in which state it is the truly wonderful
Trentepohlia of several German authors, named, as some of
them inform us, after the Rev. Mr. Trentepohl.