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I1YPNUM splendens.
Shining Tamarisk Feather-moss.
CRYPTOGAMIA Musci.
G e n . C h a r . Caps, ovate-oblong, from a lateral scaly
sheath. Outer fringe of 16 teeth, dilated at the base:
inner a variously-toothed membrane. Veil smooth.
S p e c . C h a r .^ Stem doubly pinnate, flattish. Leaves
closely imbricated every way, ovate, concave,
nerveless, shining, tipped with a little point. Lid
awl-shaped, recurved.
Syn. Hypnum splendens. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 262. t. 67.
f 6—9. Sm. FI. Brit. 1295. Sibth. 295. Turn.
Muse. Hib. 156.
H. parietinum. Buds. 499. With. 853. Hull. 271.
Light/. 751. Relh. 434. Abbot. 247.
LI. filicinum, tamarisci foliis majoribus splendentibus.
Dill. Muse. 274. t. 35. f . 13.
H. repens filicinum, veluti spicatum. Raii Syn. 86.
FO U N D in dry woods and on mountainous heaths, where it
bears fruit about March or April, retaining its ripe capsules
a long time, but in the southern counties the fructification is
not very usual.
Stems perennial, a span or more in length, decumbent,
elastic and loosely entangled, proliferous, interrupted, doubly
pinnate, purple and shining under the leaves, which for the
most part closely cover them, and are imbricated, of a pale
shining yellowish green, small, ovate, concave, without a
nerve; those on the main stem obscurely serrated and long-
pointed; the rest entire and pointless. The scaly sheaths are
generally crowded near together, each bearing one crimson
shining fruit-stalk. Capsule inclining, of a rusty hue, ovate,
smooth, taper at the base. Lid taper, longish, conical at the
base, recurved.
Linnaeus confounded this with his dark-green unpolished
H. proliferum, Curt. Lond. v. l. t. 72; but having quoted
Dill. t. 35. f . 13. for his parietinum, the moss before us ha9
gone by that name.