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The Stem

The stems of most mosses are simple in structure, they have no vascular bundles for strengthening the stem and for the purpose of carrying liquids from one part to another. The cells of one part differ but little from the cells of another part; those on the exterior may have thicker walls so as to form a firmer rind-layer, and those of the interior may be elongated and serve for the storage and transmission of albumen and hydrocarbons.

The stem of the Hairy-cap is perhaps the most highly developed of all moss stems.

A cross section shows a central portion of thick-walled cells with here and there cells whose walls have remained thin and yellowish. Immediately without the central portion is a zone of several layers of thin-walled narrow cells, bounded on the outside by from one to three layers of cells with thin, mostly dark-brown, walls. These as well as the cells lying immediately within are characterised by the starch contained in them as are the narrow cells of the leaf-traces.

The "roots" are very simple in structure, being either hair-like tubes or simply chains of cells. To distinguish them from the roots of higher plants they are called rhizoids.