HYPNUM MOSSES 



color. This capsule is almost like a cube in shape and 

 has a lid at the top of it. The lid has a very short beak. 

 The grayish -brown hairy cap that entirely covers the 

 capsule gives the moss its name. 



The capsule ripens in June or early July. Then the 

 cap falls off, the lid drops, and the spores escape. 



If you were to pick some of the hair-cap moss when 

 ripe and pull off the cap, you would find under it the 

 beaked capsule. With a pin or a penknife remove the 

 lid and let the spores fall upon a piece of dark-colored 

 paper. They are quite a bright yellow and may be 

 easily seen with a lens. Without the lens they look like 

 a mass of fine yellow powder. 



The common hair-cap moss is found in all parts of 

 North America, in Europe, and in Asia. In England it 

 is sometimes used for brooms. The Laplanders use it 

 to stuff pillows and beds. 



HYPNUM MOSSES 



Many of our common mosses belong to the Hypnum 

 family. Its members usually grow in dense mats on 

 the ground, stones, bark of trees, and rotten wood. The 

 most of them are slender and lie nearly flat. Some are 

 creeping, with branches rising up from the mass of green. 

 There are many kinds of hypnums, but we can study 

 only a few of the common ones. 



When you find a bright yellow-green moss growing 



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