BOTANY 



I. PIGEON-WHEAT MOSS. 



Description. The portrait is before us (p. 15). We 

 cannot fail to recognize a little rustic friend we have often 

 met in our country rambles, covering the dry knolls in 

 pastures among rocks and stumps.* Examining this plant 

 as a whole, we see that it is a mossy herb, erect, 3 to 8 

 inches high, branched at the base, above which it is not 

 branched, but simple, as the botanists say. Coming next to 

 study the plant in detail, we find that it is organized, i. e., 

 made of cooperating parts. Five of these the root, stem, 

 leaf, stalk, and fruit are readily distinguished. 



Analysis.f The ffioot is the base of the plant. It 

 grows in the ground, and is the part first formed. Its use 

 is to hold the plant in its place and to take up nourish- 

 ment from the soil. There are numerous small fibers or 

 rootlets branching from the main root or axis, to give a 

 broader foothold and aid in absorbing food.J 



The Stem (a b) springs from the root. It is upright, 

 simple, 1 to 3 inches high, round and tapering, or, as we 

 may hereafter say, terete. 



* Specimens of this plant maybe collected at all seasons of the year, and in drying 

 they will lose none of their comeliness. 



t Analysis. Greek ana, each, or severally, and luein, to loosen or dissolve, 

 means to consider anything in its different parts separately, one by one. 



t The life-history of the Moss begins in a mesh of green, gossamer-like threads that 

 spring from the spore which serves for its seed. For a time, 5 to 20 days, this mat slowly 

 gathers strength, when suddenly on one of the crossings a tiny bud appears a whorl 

 of scaly leaves. Now true roots creep down into the soil, the threads drop away, the 

 stem ascends. No one plants the Moss ; it does not follow the track of man in his 

 migrations ; yet it is everywhere present to greet his coming. In the barren sands, 

 in the chinks of the naked rock, wall, or pavement, wherever a spore may find a lodg- 

 ment, there the Moss weaves its tiny mesh, and grows its diminutive forest. 



