MOSSES. 233 



all destitute of leaf-stalks, and are never either 

 winged or divided. 



Mosses are generally perennial and evergreen, 

 and capable of growing in much colder climates 

 and situations than most other vegetables. I have 

 heard, that in the dreary country of Spitzbergen, 

 the rocks, which rise out of everlasting masses of 

 ice, are thickly clothed with mosses ; and a botanist 

 named Crantz, who travelled in Greenland, 

 counted above twenty different species, without 

 moving from a rock where he was seated. They 

 possess the singular property of reviving when 

 moistened, after having become very dry and to 

 all appearance withered ; and even after they have 

 been gathered and kept in a dry state for many 

 years, if put into water, every part of them will 

 expand, and become apparently as fresh as when 

 they were growing. They overspread the trunks 

 and roots of trees, and in winter defend them 

 against frost: in wet weather they preserve 

 them from decay; and, during the greatest 

 drought, provide them with moisture, and protect 

 them from the burning heat of the sun. It has 

 been observed, too, that mosses grow chiefly on 

 the northern side of the trunks and branches of 

 trees as if to shelter them from the cold north 

 wind. 



The poor Laplanders derive several of their 

 comforts from the mosses. Of the Golden Maiden- 



