SECT. II. REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 225 



a tinge of brown, red, or yellow, as does also the 

 lip of the urn or capsule, in which they are 

 inserted. 



Within the urn and in the direction of its Ion- Column, 

 gitudinal axis, there is situated a slender and cylin- 

 Irical substance (PL VII. Fig. 10.) which seems 

 to be a prolongation of the pedicle, passing 

 through the whole extent of the urn, and perforat- 

 ing both lid and veil. This organ is designated 

 by the appellation of the column ; and its summit, 

 which forms the apex of the flower, is regarded by 

 Hedwig as the style of the Mosses. 



As the urn and column are concentric, there is 

 formed by consequence between the inner surface 

 of the one, and the outer surface of the other, a 

 small and cylindrical cavity, which in the mature 

 state of the fructification is filled with a fine 

 powder consisting of a multitude of spherical gra- 

 nules of a brown, yellow, or greenish colour, gene- 

 rally smooth, but sometimes also dotted or prickly. 

 These granules are the seeds of the mosses, from The seeds, 

 the sowing of which Hedwig obtained, as in the 

 experiment of Hill, a crop of young Mosses, in 

 all respects similar to the parent plants. 



Such is a short sketch of the herbage and fruc- 

 tification of the Mosses, according to the observa- 

 tions and discoveries of Hedwig, and of the theory 

 founded upon them ; namely, that the Mosses are, 

 with a very few exceptions, either Moncecious or 

 Dioecious plants, furnished with all organs essential 



VOL. i. a 



OF THE 



UNIVERSIT 



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