MOSSES WITH A HAND-LENS 



GEORGIA* 



THE botanists of preceding centuries were often under royal 

 patronage and frequently found it convenient to pay their 

 respects to kings and queens. Thus Georgia is named for 

 King George III. of England, and Catharinea for Empress 



Catharine II. of Russia. 



Georgia is very abundant on de- 

 cayed stumps in moist woods. On 

 the western end of Long Island where 

 decayed wood is scarce, it grows 

 luxuriantly on the banks of brooks in 

 swamps, the black peaty soil being 

 as rich in organic matter as decaying 

 wood. 



The Flagellate Dicranum {Plate 4,c\ 

 which in New England grows almost 

 exclusively on decayed wood, on Long 

 Island has a habitat similar to that of 

 Georgia. This goes to prove that some 

 mosses growing on decayed wood are 

 true saprophytes, although their sap- 

 rophytism has not gone so far as to 

 enable the plants to dispense with chlorophyll. 



Georgia has two characteristics that will serve to make its 

 identification easy. Its peristome consists of four long teeth 

 that are readily distinguishable under the lens. It is the only 

 moss with this number of teeth in the peristome (except a very 

 rare species known from only four localities in the United States, 

 and so small as to be difficult of observation). The other char- 

 acter is the possession of slender branches bearing cup-like 

 clusters of leaves. In this cluster of leaves are minute green 

 bodies, gemmse, which fall off and give rise to new plants in the 

 same way that the bulblets of Cystopteris give rise to that fern. 

 Georgia fruits very abundantly and the capsules persist for a 

 year or two, so that there is no difficulty in finding or identifying 

 it. The capsules are in the best condition late in autumn. 



* Georgia pellucida (L.) Rabenh. Tetr aphis pellucida of many authors, 



Fig. 3. a, Georgia pellucida 

 X 12. b. Gemmiferous branch 

 X 2. Capsule x 10. c, Peri- 

 stome X 20. 



