KEY TO DISTINGUISH MOSSES FROM 

 COMMON HEPATICS AND LICHENS 



Note. When one is in doubt what arc mosses, the following Key should be 

 used before trying the Leaf Key or Capsule Key, as hepatics and lichens are 

 sometimes collected for mosses. (See illustrations of lichens and hepatics, 

 pp. 4, 7; also illustrations of mosses throughout the book.) 



Plants growing flat without stem or leaves ^ 



Plants usually dark green .... Hepatics (Marchantiales) , 



p. 7. 

 Plants usually some shade of gray, or if green when moist, 



becoming gray when dry, sometimes brown or orange 



.... Lichens, p. 4. 



Plants erect, ascending, prostrate, or hanging from 



trees; with a true stem or, in lichens, 



apparently having a stem 



Stems without leaves ; ^ usually some shade of gray, or if 

 green when moist, becoming gray when dry .... 

 Lichens, p. 4. 



^ The plant-body of some hepatics belonging to the Marchantidcs is like a 

 broad, flat leaf, sometimes elongated, often with a midrib, and usually 

 branched by forking. A very young plant may resemble two or three leaves, 

 but no distinct stem will be found and the apparent leaves will not be ar- 

 ranged in two opposite rows or around a stem, as in the leafy hepatics {Junger' 

 mannialcs) or the mosses coming under the next head. 



2 The short branches of certain lichens may be mistaken for leaves. The 

 leaves of the hepatics and mosses coming under the next head are flat and 

 thin, while the branches of lichens are round. When in doubt what are leaves, 

 the color of the plants is usually a safe guide. Lichens when ilry are more 

 gray than green and are very stitT and brittle. Hepatics and mosses are more 

 a foliage-green and do not dry gray or become as still and brittle. 



