CHAPTER V 

 MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS 



THE term " Moss " is popularly applied to all sorts of small plants, 

 and even to large ones, such as the " Club-Mosses " (Lycopodium). 

 Mosses grow chiefly on damp soil, but many are adapted for 

 living on walls, rocks, trees, and various dry and exposed places, 

 while a few grow submerged in fresh water. Their adaptations 

 vary as widely as their habitats ; mosses which grow on dry 

 wall-tops or mountain rocks may become thoroughly dried up 

 without losing their vitality, while the aquatic kinds quickly die 

 on being taken out of the water. Some mosses have peculiar 

 habitats. The cord-mosses (Funaria) are regularly found on 

 charred soil where a fire has been made, while some mosses grow 

 only on dung in hilly districts. Mosses play an important part 

 as pioneers in the process of soil-formation in rocky places, while 

 others help the fungi to convert fallen leaves in woods into leaf- 

 mould. In moist woods many of the elegant creeping feather- 

 mosses form a soft green carpet, this being their favourite habitat. 

 Other feather mosses grow in large patches on the bases of tree- 

 trunks, while the erect mosses, which generally form tufts or 

 cushions, grow chiefly on walls and rocks, and also on soil in more 

 open situations. 



The most conspicuous and familiar mosses are the various 

 kinds of Peat-Moss (Sphagnum), which differ considerably from 

 all other mosses. They grow in dense masses in bogs, especially 

 on heaths and moors, and in some places play a large part in 

 the formation of peat deposits. The most notable feature of the 

 peat-mosses is their great capacity for absorbing water, which 

 makes them useful in various ways, e.g., in the cultivation of 

 orchids. Pull up a handful of Sphagnum and note the long 

 stems, which are individually limp and weak, but gain support 



