MOSSES. 33 
is of a pale wine-red colour, while the leaves are 
generally of a delicate pea-green hue. In some 
species the leaves are of the deepest and most 
vivid green, while their margins and nerves are 
of a deep blood-red colour. The fruit-stalk and 
fruit-vessel are sometimes red or orange-coloured, 
while the leaves are brown; and sometimes dark 
brown, when the leaves are of a golden yellow. 
Unlike the leaves of ferns, which are mere foli- 
aceous expansions of the stem, and developed in 
one plane, the leaves of mosses are quite distinct 
from the stem, and are arranged around it on all 
sides, most frequently in an alternate manner, so 
that a line joining their bases would form a spiral 
more or less elongated. 
The organs of fructification, however, with which 
mosses are furnished, are perhaps the most wonder- 
ful parts of their economy. When the requisite 
conditions are present, these are generally developed 
during the winter and spring months, and may be 
easily recognised by their peculiar appearance. 
At first a forest of hair-like stalks, of a pale pink 
colour, rises above the general level of the tuft of 
moss, to the height of between one and three 
inches, giving to the moss the appearance of a pin- 
cushion well provided with pins. These stalks, 
through course of time, are crowned with little 
urn-like vessels called capsules, which are covered 
Cc 
