at 



Nature study leaflets 



ISSUED BY THE 



Natural Science Committee of the Associate alumnve 

 of the Normal College, New York City 



number four february, 1900 



MOSSES. 



By Elizabeth G. Britton.* 

 New York Botanical Gardens, Bronx Park. 



In a popular sense, the above name is very much misused, 

 and most people, even those who have some knowledge of 

 Botany, are apt to mistake several different kinds of plants for 

 the true mosses. . 



The tallest and most conspicuous of these are the Lycopodiums 

 or Club-Mosses, also known as Ground-Pines or Christmas 

 greens, whose ancestors grew to be trees in the old coal-form- 

 ing ages of the world, and which are now used for wreaths and 

 garlands at Christmas-time. Closely related to these are the 

 Selaginellas of the green-houses and the little wild Selagine/la 

 apus of our fields and woods, specimens of which are often sent 

 to me to name as mosses. These both belong nearer the ferns 

 and are known as Fern allies. 



The Seaweeds also are frequently called sea-mosses; and this 

 is the title of a popular book on the Algae, including all the 

 plants which grow in salt water along our sea coasts. One of 

 these is the Irish moss, which is used as a remedy for colds and 

 as an ingredient for puddings. 



The Lichens are also often spoken of as mosses, and it is 

 probable that Longfellow referred to one of them, Usnea barbata, 

 which hangs from the trees in northern regions, when he wrote 

 of "The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, bearded with 

 moss." The " Reindeer moss " is also a lichen belonging to 

 the genus C/adom'a, its specific name rangiferina being given to 

 it in reference to its being the food of the reindeer. The follow- 

 ing verses will serve to indicate some of the prettiest and 

 commonest of the lichens which may be found in this vicinity, 

 for even the Reindeer lichen grows in this region. 



* Copyrighted, 1900, by E. G. Britton. 



