Thread-moss 



Plant (gametopbyte) . Stems short, | to i inch high covered 

 with root-like filaments; there are numerous shining catkin-like 

 branches, each tipped with a brush of hairs. 



Leaves. At the apex of the stem, oblong-lance-shaped, taper- 

 pointed, silvery-gray; stem and branch leaves broadly oval, or 

 inverted oval, deeply concave; apex abruptly pointed; margin 

 entire, flat; vein (cosla) vanishing above the middle; cells loose. 



Habit of flowering. Male and female on separate plants 

 (dioicous). Male flowers terminal. 



V'il (calyptra). Narrowly hood-like, falling before the 

 spore-case ripens. 



Lid. 



Young spore- 

 case with veil. 



Veil. 



With lid. Empty. 



Spore-cases. 



Portion of peristome with two outer 

 teeth, two inner and five cilia. 



B. argenteum. 



Annulus. 



Spore-case. Abruptly pendulous, oblong, deep purple when 

 ripe, constricted under the mouth when old. 



Pedicel. Long and curved at the summit, inch high, dark 

 red when mature. 



Lid (operculum). Convex, slightly pointed, dark-orange. 



Teeth (peristome'). As in the genus. Inner membrane yellow. 



Annulus. Present. 



Spores. Mature in fall and winter. Rarely fruiting in Great 

 Britain. 



Distribution. Found in America, Europe and Asia. This is 

 one of the five mosses which Sir Wm. Jackson Hooker found in 

 the early part of the igth Century at "Ultima Thule" of Antarctic 

 vegetation. 



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