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THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



leaves are deeply divided into several lobes or teeth, which readily 

 absorb water and retain it by capillarity. Lepidozia reptans (Fig. 

 35), very common in shaded places on soil and tree stumps, a small 

 plant which sends its slender branches over and among mosses, and 

 is therefore liable to be dried up at times, has its leaves deeply 

 cleft into three or four fine lobes, which curl inwards and thus hold 

 moisture. In Trichocolea, which forms pale green woolly patches 

 in moist places, each leaf is divided into numerous long hair-like 

 segments, so that the plant holds water like a sponge (Fig. 36). 



FlG. 36. Trichocolea^ a curious leafy liverwort common in wet places beside 

 streams. The smaller sketch shows part of a plant, with fruit, about natural 

 size. A, part of plant, magnified ; B, a fruit ; C, a leaf, highly magnified. 



