MOSSES WITH A HAND-LENS 



135 



FIGURE 68. Cirriphyllum Boscii X 3; branch X 55 leaves and capsule X i- 



and on the ground in woods. Its leaves are very concave, being 

 shaped much like the bowl of a spoon with a long twisted point 

 added. The leaves are very regularly imbricated, making the 

 branches turgid and very markedly julaceous, so that they look 

 like little glossy yellow-green catkins. Although it gets as far 

 north as southern Vermont, it is much more abundant south- 

 wards. It fruits sparingly, the capsules maturing in autumn. 



PLAGIOTHECIUM. 



The stems and branches of the Plagiotheciums grow close to 

 that upon which the plant grows (substratum) and the leaves 

 are apparently in two rows, giving the plants a flattened appear- 

 ance like that of the Dark and the Light Beaked 

 Mosses. They are readily separated from the Beaked Mosses 

 by the fact that the Plagiotheciums have leaves without a midrib 

 or else with a very short and double midrib. The capsules are 

 also an aid, as they are long and slender like those of Hypnum 

 proper. The species are numerous and difficult to determine. 



There are two species everywhere present that may perhaps 

 be recognized with the aid of a brief description and the accom- 



