128 HOW TO KNOW THE MOSSES 



Plants thickly crowded together, growing on soil, on 

 rocks, or on decaying wood in the woods or in the open; 

 usually rather dark green above, brownish 

 P^ below. 



Slems erect, slender; about /^-i inch long; 

 sometimes branched and often reddish. 

 /^^ Leaves long and narrow, erect; usually form- 



'' ing a tuft at tip of stem; below smaller and 



more scattered; rather dark green. 



Seta varying in length from %-!% inches; 

 reddish-brown. 



Capsule inclined, horizontal or drooping; 

 pear-shaped or club-shaped, with neck not very 

 PoUia nutans (jig^inct; stiU green even when well filled out, 

 suie enlarged" ^^^^^Y becoming reddish-browH ; mature in 

 early summer. 

 Operculum convex. 

 Range, a cosmopolitan species. 



Pohlia nutans is one of our most common mosses, 

 especially conspicuous in spring when the capsules are 

 light green or yellowish, changing to brown. Its favor- 

 ite habitat is a moist, shaded bank, where quite an 

 extensive growth is often seen, sometimes thickly cov- 

 ered with fruit. The capsule of Pohlia resembles that 

 of Bryum, the following genus, with the neck less dis- 

 tinctly marked than in Leptobryum, the preceding 

 genus. Pohlia can usually be distinguished from Bryum 

 by the longer leaves more gradually narrowed from the 

 base. In some species of Bryum the leaves are longer 

 than in others, but they are widest above the base and 

 never look so long and slender as in Pohlia. Pohlia is 



