MOSSES. 59 
Others have conjectured that the Caper-plant, Cap- 
paris spinosa, is the species alluded to. But ona 
subject so much disputed I venture no dogmatic 
opinion. The moss in question has been found in 
little scattered tufts on the walls of Jerusalem, the 
kind of situation indicated in Scripture as the natu- 
ral growing-place of the hyssop. It is little more 
than half-an-inch in height, but it is very much 
branched, and forms sometimes large continuous 
patches, which could easily be employed as sponges. 
The specimens found in the East are considerably 
larger than those which occur in this country ; so 
that there is a certain verisimilitude in the reference 
of Hasselquist, who called it Ayssopus Solomonis. 
The moss which so deeply interested the feel- 
ings of Mungo Park in the African desert, as 
to revive his drooping spirits when overcome 
with fatigue, has been found, by means of original 
specimens, to be the little fern-like fork-moss 
(Fissidens bryoides), a frequent denizen of moist 
banks in woods in this country, although, from its 
very minute size, often overlooked. There is one 
peculiar species, the. cord-moss (Funaria hygrome- 
trica), called la charboniere in, France, from its grow- 
ing in the woods where anything has been burned, 
and particularly abundant on old walls, whose stem 
possesses the curious hygrometric action observable 
1 See Frontispiece: 
