GROUT 



SOME COMMON MOSSES 



205 



The moss plant, like the higher plants has a stem bearing leaves ; 

 and it has at the base of the stem long slender threads that do the 

 work of roots though they are much more like the roothairs of 

 the higher plants, as they are only one cell in diameter though 

 several cells long. These are called rhizoids. 



Mosses are spore plants, that is instead of producing seeds they 

 reproduce by tiny single cells called spores. These spores are 

 produced in a tiny ''capsule'' which is borne on a stalk called 



Physcomitrium turbinatum X 4 



"seta'' or sometimes pedicel. Seta and capsule are frequently 

 referred to as "fruit." The fruit is the most conspicuous and 

 characteristic thing shown in our cut of Physcomitrium. This 

 moss is chosen as the first to be studied because it is common 

 in early spring, not only in the country but in lawns, parks and 

 roadsides in and near our cities. It grows on moist soil (prefer- 

 ably somewhat shaded) that is not closely grassed over; and it 

 often nearly covers neglected ploughed fields. Physcomitrium 

 apparently is an annual moss taking about a year to develop 

 fully from the spore. 



To get it like that shown in the photograph you should look 

 for it in late April or early May, in the vicinity of New York 

 City, and in other localities according to the season as compared 

 with New York. Look when the common blue violets art^ in 

 full bloom. 



