BARTRAMIA POMIFORMIS. 



17 



The Recordt — In the preceding tablet are recorded the 

 jn-incipal facts we have now learned concerning the Pigeon- 

 wheat Moss. 



Review of the Scientific Terms which have been employed 

 and defined in this lesson. If the student will master them here, they 

 need not be explained hereafter. Analysis. Axis. Calyptra. Capsule. 

 Cryptogamia. Lanceolate. Linear. Operculum, Organized. Pedicel. 

 Peristome. Rootlet. Simple. Spores. Stoma. Terminal. Terete. 



II. THE APPLE MOSS. 



• 



/Description. — This pretty Moss is known by its round, 

 apple-shaped capsules. It grows in large, dense tufts, 2' or 

 3' (inches) high, of a light or yellowish-green color, often cov- 

 ering the ground on shady 

 banks or in open woodlands. 



Analysis. — The ^oot is a 

 simple axis, clothed with mi- 

 nute rootlets, which appear like 

 a soft brownish down. 



The Slems are densely 

 crowded, repeatedly forking, 

 or dicliotomous (dividing by 

 pairs), covered and concealed 

 by their leaves. 



The Z/ eaves are numerous 

 and crowded on the stem and ^ s 



branches. They are narrower fig. ii.-Bartramia pomif6rmi6. 

 than those of the Polytrichum, narrower even (proportion- 

 ately) than a cobbler's awl ; hence we define them as linear- 

 suhdate {suhula, an awl).* 



* Viewed under a fitrong microscope, the leaf of this Moss, and indeed every other 

 part of it, appears a tissue of cells all of one shape and size throughout— polygons 

 somewhat longer than wide. In other words, the Moss is wholly composed of cellular 

 tissue. 



