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HYPNUM molle.
Soft Water Feather-moss.
CRyPtOGAMIA Musa.
G en. Char. Caps, ovate-oblong, from a lateral scaly
sheath. Outer fringe of 16 teeth, dilated at the base:
inner a variously-toothed membrane. 'Weil smooth.
Spec. Char. Stem much-branched, lax and slender.
Leaves ovate, entire, concave, ribless, somewhat
pointed. Capsule ovate. Lid hemispherical, pointed.
Syn. Hypnum molle. Dicks. Crypt, fasc. 2. 11 . t . 5 .
f . 8. Sm. FI. Brit. 1312. Hedw. Sp. Muse. 273.
t. 7 0 ./. 7—10. With. 862. Hull. 273.
F o r this moss also, as well as those in our three preceding
plates, we are indebted to Mr. Hooker arid Mr. Borrer, who
gathered it on Ben Nevis, in the alpine rivulets of that
mountain, last summer.
The stems are perennial, much branched, floating, forming
loose soft tufts ; the branches variously scattered, leafy and
blunt. Leaves loosely imbricated on all sides, a little spreading,
so as to give the plant a soft elastic feeling to the touch ;
their colour is a light yellowish green; their form ovate,
broad, concave, with a flattish short point, but no terminal
bristle. There is no mid-rib, but only 2 or 3 plaits at
the base of each leaf, and the margin is either quite entire, or
appearing very slightly toothed under a high magnifier. Fruit-
stalks rare, scarcely an inch long, reddish, incurved. Leaves
of the sheaths lanceolate, acute. Capsule inclining, roundish-
ovate, smooth, of a rusty brown. Lid, hitherto unobserved,
short, hemispherical rather than conical, with a little blunt
point.