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HYPNUM Donnianum.
Donnian Feather-moss.
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CRYPTOGAMIA Musa.
Gen. Char. Caps, ovate-oblong, from a lateral scaly
sheath. Outer fringe of 16 teeth, dilated at the
base: inner a variously-toothed membrane. Veil
smooth.
Spec. Char. Stems tufted, simple or divided, bearing
fruit from their base. Leaves imbricated every way,
ovate, without nerves. Capsule cylindrical, erect.
Syn. Hypnum Donnianum. Sm. FI. Brit. 1286.
W e believe this moss has never been noticed by any other
botanist than Mr. G. Donn, who found it, in August 1802,
on a bank by the side of a rivulet, upon the high mountains
of Cairngorm (vulgarly called Corum Gorum) in Inverness-
shire, nor has he seen it elsewhere.
The whole plant has a pale-green shining silky appearance.
The stems in the specimens described in FI. Brit, were simple,
but we have recently seen others once or twice divided) they
grow in tufts, but whether upright or decumbent we are not
informed; they are slender, especially at the base, round and
leafy. The leaves are loosely imbricated every way, ovate,
obtuse, rarely tipped with a minute point, entire, reticulated,
without any real nerve, though sometimes the vessels run so
as to look like one. Fruit-stalks from the base of the stem,
solitary, shorter than the stem, wavy, of a light reddish hue,
brighter at the bottom. Sheath minute. Capsule upright or
nearly so, of a cylindrical urn shape, smooth, when old and
dry somewhat angular, pale rusty brown. Fringe yellow.
Lid convex, with a short curved beak.