1 68 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



Mosses have leafy stems, and by examining the tips of these 

 stems in early spring, sharp eyes, with a hand lens, can just 

 detect in the tops of some of the stalks little 

 bodies, surrounded by a rosette of leaves. 

 These correspond to the antheridia of the 

 liverwort. 



The egg-cell pockets, usually borne on 

 separate stems, are more difficult to find. 

 They are not surrounded by so conspicuous 

 a rosette. 



The little sperm-cells escape, and swim to 

 the egg-cells in much the same way as they 

 do in Marchantia. When the egg-cells have 

 become fertilized, they send up stalks, which 

 are tipped by little capsules. Look for them • 

 You can find them in great numbers when 

 the mosses are fruiting. Some of the cap- 

 sules will have little hoods, the remains of 

 the egg-pocket which has been carried up. 

 Remove one. On the capsule is a tiny lid. 

 Take it off with a needle. Under the lid is 

 a little mouth with a row of teeth. Breathe 

 on them several times. What happens? 

 They open and close. When ripe the capsule 

 is filled with spores. They sift through the 

 teeth during the summer, and when rain 

 comes, or when they lodge in a moist place, 

 they send out thread-like plants very much 

 like an alga ; it is from these threads that the 

 leafy stems grow. 



Ferns. — What pains we take to get ferns 

 to grow in our greenhouses, and how beautiful 

 they are ! You may have often seen Maiden 

 Hair growing by a stream. 



Maiden Hair and most of the South 

 African ferns have short creeping stems, but 

 Hyathea of Natal, and the beautiful Heinitelia, of Knysna and 

 the West, have woody stems which grow to quite a height. 



1 1 . 



Fig. 173. — I. Moss 

 plant. II. Swim- 

 ming sperm cell 

 (magnified). (From 

 Thome and Ben- 

 nett's " Structural 

 and Physiological 

 Botany.") 



