Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Bryaceæ

BRYACEÆ, urn mosses, a natural order of muscals, distinguished by having the spore cases valveless, with an operculum without elaters. Lindley enumerated 44 genera, and, with a query, 1,100 species as belonging to the order. They are found in all humid climates, but abound in the temperate rather than in the polar regions. The word is also applied to a large group of acrocarpous mosses having a double row of teeth, the inner united at the base by a common plicate membrane. It constitutes part of the order bryaceæ.