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Herbarium — Part 24

Annulus.--Large, compound, adherent to the mouth.

Spores.--Mature in the autumn.

Distribution.--Common in sub-alpine America, rare in Europe.

Hypnum curvifolium, Hedw.--See Colour Plate XVI.

Habit and habitat.--This attractive moss grows in intricate tufts, yellowish-green and glossy. It is very common on decayed logs in shady woods.

Name.--The specific name, is from the Latin curvum, bent, and folium, a leaf.

Plant (gametophyte).--Large, stems, 3 to 4 inches long, prostrate with but few branches, these feather-branchlets compressed, unequal, and short

Leaves.--Crowded, in two rows, each leaf overlapping the one in front, scythe-shaped concave and turned to one side; base, eared; apex gradually long taper-pointed; margin slightly serrate; vein absent or slightly evident at the base, cells above pale, narrow, linear and worm-like; cells of the base and angles, shorter, broader, and golden-yellow.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichoetial leaves).--Numerous, whitish, erect; and close, the cells loose.

Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioicous).

Veil (calyptra).--Thin and split up one side.

Spore-case.--Large, oblong, swollen, and arched, when young; thin and distinctly ribbed, when dry.

Pedicel.--Long and slender.

Lid (operculum).--Conical, with a short abrupt point.

Teeth (peristome).--Yellow with small blade-like projections on the inside; segments of the inner membrane slightly cleft; cilia 2 to 3, nearly as long as the segments.

Annulus.--With three rows of cells, rolling back as the lid falls.

Spores.--Mature in fall.

Distribution.--North America.