No. is] Pyxie (Dyapensiacece.) 121 



balls may be found nearly the year around, and its blos- 

 soms from spring to fall. Moreover, it has but slight care 

 concerning location. It rather prefers damp, rich ground, 

 but it thrives also in the sandiest and driest. It can ac- 

 complish something more perhaps where sun and sand are 

 not against it ; but the pretty little thing seems equally 

 happy everywhere. 



No. 15.— Family DIAPENSlACE^. (Pyxie Fam.) 

 Genus Pyxidanthera, Mx. 



From two Greek words meaning "box" and " anther," with reference to the 

 construction of the anthers. 



Fig. 59. — Pyxie. Flowering Moss. P. barbulata, Mx. 



Flowers, one quarter of an inch across, white or sometimes 

 rosy, solitary, stemless, bell-shaped, very abundant, 

 at the ends of short leafy branchlets. Petals, five, 

 rounded, united. Calyx, persistent. Sepals, thin, 

 very finely toothed, with small, prominent bracts be- 

 neath. Stamens, five, inserted on the corolla, with 

 the filaments adherent to it. Anther-cells opening 

 across, each with a slender bristle at its base. Style, 

 one. Stigma, three-lobed. Seed-case, three-celled, 

 many-seeded, free from the calyx. April, May. 



Leaves, evergreen, one quarter inch in length, or less, 

 simple, crowded, the upper ones alternate, entire, 

 narrow, mostly reverse, lance-shape, pointed, some- 

 what hairy near the base. No stipules. 



Fruit, three-celled, many-seeded, enveloped in the persist- 

 ent calyx. A capsule. 



Found, from the sandy pine-barrens of New Jersey to 

 North Carolina. 



