Fork-Mosses 



Habit of flowering. Male and female flowers on different 

 plants (dioicous}. 



Veil (calyptra). Thin, smooth, beaked and split 

 up one side. 



Spore-case. Long, with summit somewhat in- 

 clined, rarely erect, cylindrical, somewhat incurved, 

 arched and grooved when dry. 



Pedicel (seta). Solitary, golden-yellow. 



Lid (operculum). Conical at the base, gradually 

 narrowed into a strong beak, reddish, and as long 

 as the spore-case. 



Teeth (peristome) . Sixteen, dark-red, cleft to the 

 middle. 



Annulus. None. 



Spores. Mature in summer. 



Distribution. North America, Europe, Asia. 



ii 



w 



Perforated 

 leaf cells 



Tuft of D. scoparium. 



Basal leaf -cells. 

 D. scoparium. 



Genus FISSIDENS, Hedw. 



The species of this genus are metallic green, plume-like, 

 simple or sparingly branched, growing in mats upon shady 

 wet banks and rocks ; sometimes on tree-trunks, and sometimes 

 floating in water. 



The leaves grow in two opposite rows (distichous), and are 

 double below as if folded together, they are winged along the 



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