THE BRYOPHYTA 137 



3. THE SPOROGONIUM OR FRUIT 



Funaria fruits very freely, and if we look at a patch 

 of it, at any time of year, we are sure to find plenty of 

 fructifying plants at one stage or another. In the 

 mature state the fruit consists of a long, thin, red-brown 

 stalk, bearing at its end a nodding pear-shaped capsule 

 (see Fig, 58, sp), which at first is green, but finally 

 turns brown. Until almost the last the capsule carries 

 on its top a conical hood (the calyptra) split along one 

 side ; at an earlier stage this completely envelops the 

 capsule, and is only pushed off as it expands, remaining 

 hanging for a long time. When the calyptra is removed 

 we see the top of the capsule, which is closed by a neat 

 conical lid. The whole of this fruit, including both 

 stalk (seta) and capsule, constitutes the asexual, spore- 

 bearing generation, and is derived from the fertilised 

 ovum. The calyptra, however, is formed from the 

 enlarged wall of the archegonium, which is split off at 

 the base, and borne aloft on the fruit as it grows. The 

 calyptra therefore is, by its origin, a portion of the 

 sexual plant. We will now describe the structure of 

 the fruit when fully formed, and then shortly trace its 

 development from the ovum. 



Beginning with the capsule, which is the essential 

 part, containing the spores, we find that its base is solid, 

 while the upper portion contains a large hollow space 

 separating the central mass of tissue from the wall (see 

 the longitudinal section shown in Fig. 63, which is from 

 a young capsule in which all the tissues are already 

 marked out). 



It is the upper part of the capsule which is fertile, 

 while the basal solid portion (apophysis) performs nutritive 



