CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
Gen. Char. 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 . Leaves lanceolate, finely serrated. Capsule
cylindrical, erect, without a pedestal. Stem
branched, fastigiate.
Syn. Polytrichum urnigerum. Linn. Sp. PL 1573. Hedw.
Sp. Muse. 100. t. 22. f . 5—7. Menz. TV. o f Linn.
Soc. v. 4. 81. With. 797. Hull. 248. Light/. 703.
Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 12 . 20.
P. alpinum (3. Huds. 471.
P. ramosum, setis ex alis urnigeris. Dill. Muse. 427.
t. 55. f . 5.
T h IS does not unfrequently occur in a dry loose soil on the
mountains of Scotland and Wales. Specimens from which
our figure was taken were gathered by Mr. Winch, on Gateshead
Fell, near Newcastle. The fruit ripens throughout the
summer.
Roots perennial. Stems much branched, forming dense
even-topped tufts. Leaves sheathing, spreading, lanceolate,
acute, obscurely keeled, serrated with fine sharp teeth; their
colour a lightish green, turning rusty with age. Fruit-stalks
solitary, an inch and half high, purple at the base, yellow
above. Capsule erect, of an ovate cylindrical form, contracted
just below the margin, and without a pedestal or apophysis. Lid
convex, red at the border, with a shortish curved beak. Outer
fringe of 32 teeth. Veil double) the outermost tawny.
P . alpinum differs from this in its greater size, and ovate
drooping capsule supported by a pedestal.