Mosses and Lichens 



Pedicel (seta). --Red-orange, becoming brown, stout, glossy, 

 to 2^ inches high. 



Lid (operculum}. Red, flattened-convex with a short beak. 



Teeth (peristome). Pale, symmetrical, 

 rather short, sixty-four in number. 

 Spores. Ripe in summer. 

 Distribution. From Florida to Alaska, 

 also in Europe. 



The Common Hairy-cap, Poly- 

 tricbum commune, L. See Colour Plate X. 

 Habit and babitat. This moss is 

 widely distributed and attains its largest 

 size in peat-bogs where it may usually 

 be recognised by the long stems covered 

 below by the silvery bases of the leaves 

 and by the angular 

 spore -case which 

 bears a flat disk at the 

 base. It has the dis- 

 tinction of being one 

 of a few mosses 

 which have served in 

 the economy of the 

 household. In the 



Spore-case 



P. juniperinum. Spore-cases. 



north of England the plants are made into small dust- 

 ing brooms and mats. Withering states that the 

 plants are used for bedding by bears, and Carolus 

 Linnaeus, the renowned Swedish botanist, is said, 



P. commune. 



Spore-case. 



-a. 



P. juniperimim. Cross section of leaf to show (a) lamellae growing from the innf;r 

 surface of the vein, (s) The vein. On the left, the blade is shown one cell thick 

 and seven cells wide. 



