HIGHER PLANTS 



(Fig. 52) are examples of the leafless state of the liverworts. 

 "Reindeer moss" and the "red-tipped moss" are common 

 lichens having no leaves but only stubby branches colored 

 gray-green by algae which grow like a cloak about the white 

 fungus within. 



!s)>or-e cq[)5u.I«- 

 , with cab remcved 



-I- 



A 



' tsr s^JOTfc bearlnd 



'^fe 



* — 5<».»nefo J> liyfe. 

 or sex cell 



-rl)izold 



Fig. 53. — Diagrammatic outline of parts of a moss 

 plant. 



Several kinds of mosses are more or less aquatic. The most 

 abundant of these are the sphagnums, bog mosses, which 

 thrive best when they are soaked with water. Others grow 

 upon the rocks in swift mountain streams and in gorges, where 

 they cover the stream bed with a green-black carpet. 



Life history of mosses. — A "fruiting moss plant" (Fig. 53) 

 consists of an upright leafy stem or branch, rootlike organs or 

 rhizoids and a capsule of spores usually borne on a stalk. 

 Carried to the right place by wind or water, the spores will 



6i 



