/-iA [ 1 1 9 8 ]
POLYTRICHUM attenuatum.
Slender Hair-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. C h a r . Outer fringe of 32 or 64 short incurved
teeth: inner a flat undivided membrane. Veil generally
double: the outer hairy.
S p e c . C h a r . Stem simple. Leaves linear-lanceolate,
spreading, serrated, acute. Capsule quadrangular,
drooping, contracted at the base, without a pedestal.
S y n . Polytrichum attenuatum. Menz. Tr. o f Linn.
Soc. v. 4. 72. t. 6. / . 2 .
P. formosum. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 92. t. 19 .f. 1, a.
OBSERVED by Mr. Sowerby in April 1800, on Sydenham
Common, Kent, for the first time, we believe, in Britain.
T h is e leg an t species ha s a p p a re n tly b e en lo n g overlooked as
n o t different from P. commune, fo r it appears n o t to be very
ra re . I t nevertheless clearly differs from th e pre ced in g in
h av in g a d ro o p in g an d som ew h a t lo n g e r capsule , c o n tra c ted a t
th e b a se , b u t d e stitu te o f a p ro p e r fleshy apophysis. Its leaves
a re m ore spre ading an d re c u rv e d ; th e ir se rrature s m o re d istin c t
an d c a rtilag in o u s. T h e stems do n o t seem ever to grow to th e
h e ig h t w h ic h th o se o f P . commune sometimes do. L ik e th a t
spe c ie s, th e c apsule and its lid are b e au tifu lly edged w ith red.
T h e frin g e consists o f 64 little w h ite te e th . T h e h a iry o u te r
veil is ra th e r ye llowe r th a n in th e fo rm e r.
Dr.Hedwig appears not to have seen Mr. Menzies’s excellent
treatise on this genus in the Linnsean Transactions.