THE BRYOLOGIST 



Vol. XIX March, 1916 No. 2 



HOW TO KNOW THE MOSSES WITHOUT THE AID OF A LENS' 



Elizabeth Marie Dunham 



A. Key to Separate the Mosses from Hepatics and Lichens 

 without the aid of a lens. 



Since hepatics and lichens are sometimes collected for mosses, the following 

 key will be helpful when there is doubt as to what are mosses. 



Plants growing flat, without stem or leaves. 



Usually dark green Thallose Hepatics — -Marchantiales. 



The plant-body of some Marchantiales is like a broad flat leaf, sorhe- 

 times elongated, often with a midrib, and branched by forking. A 

 very young plant may resemble two or three leaves, but no distinct 

 stem will be found and the apparent leaves will not be arranged in 

 two opposite rows, or around a stem, as in the leafy hepatics, or 

 the mosses. 



Usually some shade of gray, or if green when moist, becoming gray when 

 dry; sometimes brown or orange Lichens — (see below) 



Plants, erect, ascending, prostrate, or hanging from trees; with a true stem, or, in 

 lichens, apparently having a stem. 

 Stems without leaves; usually some shade of gray, or, if green when moist, 



becoming gray when dry Lichens. 



The short branches of certain lichens may be mistaken for leaves. 

 The leaves of hepatics and mosses are flat and thin, while the branches 

 of lichens are round. When in doubt as to what are leaves, the color 

 of the plants is usually a safe guide : lichens when dry are more gray 

 than green, and are very stiff and brittle; hepatics and mosses are 

 more a foliage green, and do not dry gray, or become so stiff and 

 brittle. 



1 Note. — This article is extracted with slight changes from a book by Mrs. Dunham with 

 the above title, soon to be issued by the Houghton Mifflin Company. It will be an illustrated guide 

 to the mosses of the northeastern United States, with keys to genera and species, but placing special 

 emphasis upon those characters that are apparent without the use of a hand lens. Our sincere 

 thanks are extended to Mrs. Dunham and to the Houghton Mifflin Company, for the courteous per- 

 mission to publish this extract. — The Editors. 



The January number of The Bryologist was published March 13, 1916. 



