Page:VCH Bedfordshire 1.djvu/96

 A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE time. A. Tricbomanes has been found at Stafford Bridge, Luton Hoo and Cardington. Aspidium aculeatum is native but very local ; Eversholt, Flitwick, Potton and Chicksands have been returned as stations. The hart's-tongue (Sco/opendrium) is not common ; for many years it has grown in a well at Elstow, and it has been found on Newnham walls, at Lidlington, Luton Hoo and Toddington. Polypodium cristatum was noted by Abbot at Potton and Aspley, but Lastrea spimdosa was probably meant, and it has several modern stations. L. uliginosa was certified as correct by Dr. F. A. Lees, being found by McLaren at Flitwick in 1885. L. Thelypteris grew on Potton Marsh in Abbot's time, and the name occurs in Hillhouse's list, 1876, which also includes L. dilatata without station. The adder's tongue (Ophioglossum) is widely distributed, but the moonwort (Botrychium), which Abbot found in Oakley West Field, is apparently extinct, as is also the royal fern (Osmunda), which formerly grew in Aspley Wood, and of late years has been found at Little Brick- hill just outside the county boundary. THE HORSETAILS {Equisetacecef The great horsetail (E. max/mum) is generally found on marshes, especially in the north, but is rarer in the south. The mud-horsetail (E. limosum) is frequent on bogs, and Mr. Saunders gives the Ivel near Sandy as a station for the var. Jiuviatile, which Mr. Hillhouse also met with. Abbot recorded E. hyemale at Potton and Ampthill, and E. syl- vaticum at Haynes Wood, but there has been no recent confirmation of either. MARSILIACEiE None have been found in the county. THE MOSSES (Musci)' As Bedfordshire is an inland county and possesses no mountains the following moss list of some 1 60 species and varieties is not so extensive and varied as it might be with different physical features. The sphag- nums or bog mosses are found only on the Lower Greensand formation, which stretches across the middle of the county. The most noteworthy species in the list are Dicranum montanum and Hypnum Sendtneri, the latter of which it is feared has recently been exterminated through the plough- ing up of its only known station. The nomenclature and arrangement is that of the London Catalogue, ed. 2 (see, South Bedfordshire Mosses,' J. Saunders, Journ. Botany, xxii. 47). Sphagnaceje Sphagnace^e {continued) Sphagnum acutifolium, Ehrh. Sphagnum intermedium, Hoffm. var. tenue — cuspidatum, Ehrh. „ rubellum var. riparioides — fimbriatum, Wils. — cymbifolium, Ehrh. — squarrosum, Lind. var. squarrosulum v.ir. laxum By J. Harrison, Bedford. By James Saunders, Luton. 56