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The Fountain Mosses

Genus FONTINALIS, L.

The species as the name suggests grow either submerged or floating in streams and ponds.

The plants are branched, often naked at the base. Every third leaf is directly over the first one counted; usually concave or keeled, with a base often auricled and growing slightly down the stem. They have no vein. The cells are linear, those of the basal angles more or less enlarged.

The spore-cases are oval or cylindrical with conical lids and are immersed in the leaves at the base.

The peristome is double, the outer of sixteen lance-shaped teeth, the inner of sixteen slender cilia united into a latticed cone.

There are about forty species in all, over twenty-five being known in the United States.

Fontinalis antipyretica, var. gigantea, Sulliv.

Habit and habitat.--Glossy, yellow-green or bronzed plants growing in fresh water.

Name.--The specific name antipyretica is a compound of the Greek against, and fever, given because of a belief in its efficacy in fevers. The varietal name gigantea refers to its size.

Plants.--One to two feet long, rooting only at the base and growing attached to stones, and roots of trees in streams.

Leaves.--Keeled and overlapping; vein none; apex finely toothed; cells of the basal angles enlarged.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichoetial leaves).--Over-lapping, broad and blunt.

Habit of flowering.--Fruiting branch 1/2 an inch long, male and female flowers on separate plants.

Veil (calyptra).--Beaked.

Spore-case.--Cylindrical.

Lid (operculum).--Conical.

Teeth (peristome).--As in the genus.

Spores.--Mature in summer.

Distribution.--In temperate regions of both continents.

Genus NECKERA, Hedw.

The species of the Genus Neckera grow in extensive mats on tree-trunks or rocks. The primary stems are creeping, and the secondary are once or twice feather-branched, erect or pendent, often whip-like, and covered at the base with red-brown filaments.

The leaves are glossy, translucent, often flat and generally wavy. The cells are minute rhomboidal, oblong in the upper part, linear in the middle and quadrate on the borders.

The spore-cases are immersed or exserted, with a short or somewhat elongated pedicel. They are erect and symmetrical with conical beaked lids.

The peristome is double, without an annulus, the outer teeth being long, linear, lance-shaped, and closely cross-barred. The inner membrane consisting of a basal portion with 16, often short, processes without intermediate cilia.

The genus was named by J. G. Hedwig in honour of J. N. Necker, a distinguished botanist. 158 species are known at present, 8 being found in North America.

The Feathered Neckera, Neckera pennata, Hedw.--See Colour Plate III.

Habit and habitat.--Growing in widely spreading pale-green matted tufts (cespitose) on tree trunks. It is a conspicuous moss on trees of the Adirondack woods. The older parts of the plants are shabby, while the newer parts are pale yellow-green and grow horizontally around the tree.

Name.--The specific name pennata, from the Latin penna, a feather, was suggested by the arrangement of the branches.

Plant. (gametophyte).--The primary stems are long, the secondary 2 to 4 inches long in opposite rows (distichous), close or distant, erect.

Leaves.--In the same plane with the branches, spreading, glossy, broadly lance-shaped, transversely wrinkled; apex acute; margin entire or slightly saw-toothed from the middle upward; vein faint and short, single, or two-forked, or wanting; base slightly unequal; cells very small, rhomboidal-oblong, 4-sided at the basal angles.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichoetial leaves).--Long and sheathing, taperpointed, surpassing the spore-case.

Habit of flowering.--Male and female flowers on the plant (monoicous).

Veil (calyptra). --Small, white, covering the lid only.

Spore-case.-Immersed, oval-oblong, dirty-yellow, brown when old, thin-walled.

Pedicel.--None, the cellular sheath at the base of the spore-case hairy.

Lid (operculum.)--Conical, beaked.

Teeth (peristome).--Pale-yellow, the outer of linear awl-shaped teeth from a narrowly lance-shaped base, cohering at the apex, densely cross-barred, irregularly divided, the inner segments rudimentary.

Spores.--Mature in spring.

Distribution.--Common in North America; universal.

Genus ANOMODON, Hook & Tayl.

The species of the Genus Anomodon are found on the roots of trees in woods, on rocks and on decayed logs.

The primary stems are prostrate, with horizontal shoots from the base and erect secondary stems irregularly branched. The stem-leaves are distant and minute, while the leaves of the branch lets are crowded, spreading, or turned to one side, and have minute cells, usually with tiny protuberances on both faces.

The spore-cases are erect, cylindrical, regular, chestnut-coloured with conical beaked lids, and are borne on more or less elongated pedicels. Annulus narrow or wanting.

The peristome is pale, with narrowly lance-shaped teeth, and the segments of the inner membrane short, narrow and more or less irregular from a narrow base. The character of the teeth was not very well understood at first and so the genus was named Anomodon, from ??, irregular, and ??, tooth, from the supposed unusual construction.