/ Lf f [ 1219 ]
POLYTRICHUM hercynicum.
Incurved 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 . Leaves linear, mostly entire, incurved
when dry. Capsule ovato-cylmdrical, erect. Veil
single, hairy when young.
S y n . Polytrichum hercynicum. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 94.
Crypt, v. 1. 40. t. 15. With. 797. Hull. 248.
Bryum incurvum. Huds. 479.
A RARE inhabitant of the Welch andjScottish mountains, for
specimens of which we are obliged to Mr. Griffith, and to its
original discoverer the Rev. H. Davies. It bears fruit in July.
Root perennial, densely woolly. Stems in tufts, from one
to three quarters of an inch in height, mostly simple. Leaves
dull-green, rigid, linear, channelled, rather pointed, for the
most part entire, but the uppermost are sometimes serrated towards
the point: all of them curl in as they lose their moisture.
Fruit-stalk solitary, terminal, an inch or more in height,
rigid, reddish. Capsule cylindrical, somewhat ovate, nearly
erect, the orifice scarcely at all dilated. Fringe of about 32
teeth, shaped exactly as in the several species of Polytrichum
already described, and accompanied by the inner horizontal
membrane. Lid conical, with a short curved point. Veil cylindrical,
at length bursting on one side, simple, smooth when
arrived at maturity; but in a young state, when emerging from
among the leaves, it is clothed with upright shining tawny
hairs. These, though not essentia], confirm the generic character
of the moss before us, which is founded beyond all doubt
on the peculiar construction of the fringe. The habit also is
entirely that of a Poly trichum.