Cryphæa heteromalla is a local moss, occurring mostly on the ash, has a creeping pinnate stem, fruiting branches erect, the capsule immersed in the surrounding leaves, the calyptra conical, brownish, and the fringe or peristome white; fruiting in June.
Leucodon sciuroides I find upon the ash, elm, and apple trees. often very abundant, but very rarely fruiting. This species has also a creeping stem, with numerous erect shoots; the leaves are spreading when moist, but imbricate (overlapping) when dry; the shoots are thickened at the end and incurved, and the leaves are nerveless; marginal leaf cells round, central ones oblong.
In calcareous and marly soils I find the yellowish-green tufts of Zygodon viridissimus not unfrequently on the lower part of the trunks of elm, ash, and sometimes oak trees; when racist and fresh-gathered the leaves are spreading. but when dry they are crisped and somewhat twisted, the leaves are widely lance-shaped, have plane margins, very small dot-like cells, and a pellucid nerve, I have not seen this in fruit, but it should be sought for in spring.
Weissia cirrhata is an abundant moss on trees. gate-posts, and rails, forming dark-green cushions. The leaves are lanceolate, with the margins turned over towards the underside. crisped when dry, leaf cells minute and opaque; the capsule is terminal, borne on a short, straight foot-stalk, has a long straight beak, and a fringe of sixteen rudimentary teeth.
Leskea polycarpa I have found most frequently on the roots of willows, especially near water, but it also occurs in drier habitats. It forms matted yellowish-green tufts; the stem is creeping, somewhat divided with pinnate branches, leaves spreading, somewhat oval in shape, slightly roughened or papillose on the Lack, leaf cells roundish. The fruit stalk is lateral, [Plate IV., 5a,][1] the capsules erect and the lid conical, the fringe consisting of an outer and an inner row of sixteen teeth.
Woods will yield many of our most beautiful mosses, the borders where the shade is not too great being usually the most prolific spots. Many of the species already mentioned will be found, but the most characteristic are such mosses as Mnium uncdulatum, Polytrichum formosum, Hypnum tamariscinum, H. triquetrum, Dicranum scoparium, Mnium hornum, &c.
Mnium undulatum is a very noble-looking moss, not infrequent in shady wounds and on shady banks in a marly soil. It grows in large green patches, and has a very tree-like habit; the leaves are tongue-shaped, obtuse, with a slightly thickened margin, which is toothed with distinct simple teeth; towards the top of the stem the leaves form a rosette, and from this arise arched or pendulous whip-shaped branches. The leaves are undulated when moist, crisped when dry. The fruit, which is rare, is terminal, the fruit-stalks are long, and the capsules pendulous.
Mnium hornum, a denizen of like places, is far more frequent. This grows in dense green tufts, the stems being matted together with reddish rootlets, The leaves are lance-shaped, the margin thickened and
- ↑ All the references in this Article are in Plate IV, facing page 193.
