208 MOSSES. CHAP. II. 



superficial observer or disregarded by the novice in 

 botany, who is attracted, perhaps, only by what is 

 specious in the plant or flower, but who, when the 

 desire of botanical knowledge shall have inspired 

 him with a relish for microscopical observation, will 

 find the study of the Mosses to be no less interest- 

 ing than that of the more perfect plants, and the form 

 and texture of their parts to be no less beautiful 

 and elegant than that of the most gaudy flowers. 



SECTION L 



lions. 



Conservative Organs. 



Modifica- The Root. The root is generally composed of a 

 number of small and slender fibres closely matted 

 together, as in Tetraphis viridula ; or it sends down 

 a thread-shaped caudex from which the fibres issue, 

 as in Potytrichum undulatum ; or the fibres are 

 themselves branched, as in Neckera viticulosa. The 

 direction of the root is generally somewhat oblique, 

 as in Polytrichum commune ; but it is often also 

 creeping and horizontal, as in Hypnum alopecurum. 

 The surface is for the most part smooth, but is 

 sometimes covered with a fine and velvety down of 

 a dark or rusty colour, as in Funaria hygrometrica ; 

 or the fibres issuing from the caudex assume that 

 appearance, as in Bryum undulatum, one of the 

 most beautiful of all British Mosses. 





