An Introduction to the Study of Cryptogamous Plants; In Letters - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1807. Excerpt: ... 270 LETTER XVIII. ON THE FRUIT OF THE MOSSES. In the definition of the Mosses, it has been already observed, that their fruit is, without exception, a capsule opening at the top, by which character especially they are distinguished from the Hepaticae. In order to subject the fruit to a more accurate examination, we begin with its peduncle. The capsules are scarcely ever sessile: in Diphysciumyb/ZojMfrt, the genus Phascum, Neckera disticha zn6.Jiliformis the pedunde is indeed very short, but cannot be said to be entirely wanting: in others, such as Timmia longutta, Splachnum luteum and ru brum, it is very long. This part takes its origin, according to the different situation of the fruit, either from the axils of the leaves, or from the extremity or base of the branches. The first first situation is common to almost all the species of Hypnum, Leskea and Neckera; the second to those of Mnium, Schistostega and Splachnum; and the third to Hypnum spiniforme and Dicranum taxifolium. It does not, however, follow that the peduncle should always be in the same relative situation as the young fruit; the growth of the plant often effecting some changes in this respect; thus if, in the genus Gymnostomum and Dicranum, the young fruit appears at the extremity of the branches, the peduncles are often found in the axils; the prolongation of the branches, by the further growth of the Moss, making that point lateral which was before terminal. The peduncle is constantly round, and quite naked: Leskea cristata, a native of the South Sea islands, furnishing perhaps the only instance of a hairy one; it is rather rough, or at least beset with small prominent points in Hypnum pralongum, rulabulum and lutescens, in Leskea scricea and involvens. This part in most Mosses has a vert...