FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 65 



and exhibiting the same kind of sensitiveness to 

 changes of the atmosphere, that is to say, closing 

 when it is moist and clouded, opening out flat when 

 the sun shines and the heaven's breath smells woo- 

 ingly. The seeds are impalpably minute, and float in 

 the air, like the winged ones of thistles, but of course 

 invisibly. When carried or blown against any moist 

 and shady surface, they cling to it, and commence 

 active life, and in a little while make it seem as if a 

 coat of bright green paint had been -overspread there. 

 Mosses, independently of the beauty of their little 

 capsules, are plants that abound in curious interest. 

 There is good reason to believe that the plant referred 

 to under the name of the " hyssop that springeth out 

 of the wall/ 7 was one of their number. Since hyssop, 

 properly so called, is neither an inhabitant of walls, 

 nor so remarkable for diminutiveness as to form nearly 

 so suitable a contrast to the cedar of Lebanon, it is 

 pretty certain, at all events, that the allusion is made 

 to something else ; and the positive arguments are all 

 in favor of its having been mosses that Solomon spoke 

 of. Mosses, like ivy - and wall-flowers, consecrate 

 themselves to the ruin. The time-worn castle, the 

 roofless abbey, are favorite abodes with them. They 

 love also to grow in rural graveyards, and may often 

 be seen filling up the deep-cut letters of the epitaph. 

 They are too small for the posy or bouquet, not 

 impressive enough for the flower-garden ; they seem 



