CRYPTOGAMIA. MUSCI. Polytrichtjm. 1015 
POLYT'RICHUM.* Capsule with a veil: outer fringe with 
thirty-two, (or sixty-four incurved teeth; inner, a flat 
undivided membrane. E.) f 
Barr.FI. a circular bud, on a different plant: terminal. 
P. commu'ne. Stem simple, proliferous: leaves strap-spear-shaped, 
serrulated: capsules oblong, four-sided: veils woolly. 
( E . Bot. 1197— Muse. Brit. x.— Schmid. 59. E.)— Dill. 54. 1— Happ. i. 
Poly trick. 1— Mich. 59. 1. I, E, M, O, P, Q, R. — Blackw. 375— Vaill. 23. 
8— Ger. 1371. 3 —Gars. 129— Fuchs. 629. 1— Trag. 528. 1—J. B. iii. 760. 
1— Lon. i. 222. 3— Dod. 475. 2— Ger. Em. 1559, right hand fig. of the 3 
lowermost — Barr. 251. 3— Kniph. 12— Trag. 946, the tallest of the figures, 
rising from a bed of Hypnum sericeum. — Park. 1052, right hand Jig. of the 
two uppermost — Lob. Obs. 645. 2. Ic. ii. 245— Ger. Em. 1559. 2 —Ger. 
1370. 2—Park. 1307. 3. 
Stems several inches high, seldom branched. Leaves near half an inch 
long, slender, pointed, turning back, finely serrated. Fruit-stalks ter¬ 
minal, solitary, two to four inches long, surrounded by an involuemm 
at the base. Capsule four-sided ; mouth fringed. Veil very hairy, hang¬ 
ing down below the capsule, ragged. Weis. From four to twelve inches 
high, stiff, straight. Fruit-stalk golden red. Veil tawny. Dill. 
(Common Hair-moss. E.) Great Golden Maidenhair, or Goldi¬ 
locks. Woods and moors in wet boggy places. P. May—June.t 
(This very fine Moss appears to be subject to considerable variation. In 
Muse. Brit, under var. Attenuatum, {e stems three or four inches in height; 
* (From 7co\v many; and rpixog, hairs ; alluding to the hairiness of the veil, or, as 
some have imagined, to the setaceous supporters of the capsules. E.) 
+ (Greville observes that “ the membrane which closes the mouth of Polytrichum is not 
merely stretched across it, but passes to the base of the outer teeth, and lines them to the 
very apex, and thus forms a real membranaceous inner peristome. In P. alpinum the above 
structure is extremely evident.” 
t (“ Never was the bountiful provision of Nature more wonderfully evinced, than in 
lavishing mankind with bed and bedding in the savage wilderness of Lyckselle Lapland. The 
Great Hair-moss, called by the Laplanders Romsi, grows luxuriantly in their damp forests, 
and is used for this purpose. They choose the starry-headed plants, out of the tufts of which 
they cut a surface as large as they please, for a bed and bolster ; separating it from the earth 
beneath : and although the shoots are scarcely branched, they are nevertheless so much 
entangled at the roots, as not to be separated from each other. This mossy covering is 
very soft and elastic, not growing hard by pressure ; and if a similar portion of it be made 
to serve for a coverlet, nothing can be more warm and comfortable. If it becomes too dry 
and compressed, its former elasticity is restored by a little moisture. Nature, in providing 
for the wants of man, has not forgotten to defend the capsule of the Hair-moss from the 
injury of the weather. It is covered with an umbrella, in the form of a cone, which, as the 
seeds begin to ripen, loosens from the capsule to which it had before adhered, and at length 
falls off. The stem which supports the seed-vessel previously recovers its position, and 
turning the capsule towards the earth, completely empties the seeds as from a pitcher.” 
Wonders of Veg. Kingdom, p. 164. Bears also collect this useful little plant for like pur¬ 
poses, and birds line their nests with it.—■“ In Hampshire,” says Mr. White, “ our foresters 
make little neat besoms from the stalks, which they call silk-wood. When this Moss is well 
combed and dressed, and divested of its outer skin, it becomes of a beautiful bright-chesnut 
colour; and being soft and pliant, is very proper for the dusting of beds, curtains, carpets, 
hangings, &c. These pretty implements of housewifery are worthy the attention of the 
brushmakers in town.” E.) 
