Tree Mosses 



slightly growing down on tfie stem at the hollow basal angles; 

 apex sharply serrate; vein vanishing below the apex. 



Habit of flowering. Male and female flowers on separate 

 plants (dioicous). 



Veil (calyptra). Thin, smooth, extending below the spore- 

 case. 



Spore-case. Erect, cylindrical, red-brown. 



Pedicel (seta). An inch long or more, 

 deep-red. 



Lid (operculum). Straight, acutely 

 beaked, remaining for some time attached 

 to the central column of the spore-case. 



Teeth (peristome). As in the genus. 



Annulus. None. 



Spores. Olive-green, small, mature in 

 the autumn and winter. 



Distribution. Common in North Amer- 

 ica, Europe, Asia and Africa. 



Climacium Americanum, Brid. See 

 Colour Plate XV. 



This species closely resembles the last, 

 but may be distinguishedby the long de- 

 current stem-leaves broadly eared at the 

 base and coarsely serrate at the apex, as well 

 as by the longer and more narrowly cylindrical spore-cases with 

 more abruptly, longer beaked lids. 



Spore-case Stem 

 with lid. leaf. 



C. Americanum. 



HYPNUM RUSCIFOLIUM, Neck. 



" Where, through some meadows, soft and green, 

 Gemm'd with the daisy's silver bloom, 

 A gentle stream is wandering seen, 

 'Mid flowering banks of rare perfume ; 

 There you may look beneath the waters 

 Sweetly gliding on serene, 

 For one of Beauty's lovely daughters 

 Lovely though of humble mien ; 

 And where the stream, in childish glee, 

 Leaps o'er the rocks with infant pride, 

 This little moss, in eddying swirl 

 Of foaming waves, its head doth hide." 



273 



