MOSSES. 



21 



Some of the lichens are edible and others 

 are medicinal, while a number are important 

 sources of dyes. 



Under the general term Mosses or Musci 

 are included two very dissimilar orders of 

 plants. One order, known as Livericor'ts or 

 Hepaticce^ includes plants which have little 

 or no distinction of root, stem, and leaf. 

 The frond or main portion of the plant 

 spreads out over the ground much after the 

 manner of a green lichen, and from this 



Fig. 23. 



shapeless form the fruit stalks arise. One 

 of the commonest species is figured, about 

 natural size, in Fig. 23. On account of the 

 many different forms which this plant as- 

 sumes, it is known as the "many-formed 

 Marchantia," Marchantia polymorpha. The 

 fertile or spore-bearing plant is shown at 



