M O S
M O S
tainous parts of the world between the Tropics, there are ma- ny extremely beautiful fern-like Moffes, unknown in all other places.
Ireland and Scotland yet remain to be fearched in a great mea- fure, and probably vrill afford great numbers hitherto wholly unknown. It cannot but be acknowledged, that the diftinc- tions of thefe little vegetables are To minute, and their ap- pearance fo various in their different ftates, that very probably fucceeding obfervations will much retrench the number de- fcribed by Dillenius ; but as the fame obfervers will probably add as many new and truly diftinct (pedes, as they find occa- fion to ftrike off from the old lift, there is no doubt but that the number will be found at leaft as great as it ftands at pre- fent with that author.
XJfss of Mosses. Were there no other ufe in thefe minute and beautiful objects than the admiring the wonderful works of the creator, this were enough to make the ftudy of them worthy of attention ; the almoft endlefs variety of the figure and ftructure of their leaves, the flendernefs of the (talks that fupport them, and the regularity and nice order in which they are arranged ; the minutenefs of their roots, and the flen- dernefs of the pedicles which bear the heads, each of which is often fmaller than the fineft hair, and the extreme exility of the veffels through which juices are conveyed along thefe for the nouriftiment of the plant and feeds, can never enough be admired ; and the various fr.ruct.ure of the heads or feed-vefTels with their coverings, by means of which the tender feeds and farina; arc defended, afford to the microfcopic obferver an end- ]efs fund of admiration.
But thefe are not all the ufes they were intended for, many may yet remain unknown ; but we at prefent well know that feveral of the ufneas are great and valuable medicines, ufed. as deficcatives and aftringents ; that the common cup Mofs is one of the greateft remedies in the convulfive coughs of chil- dren, called the chin-cough, is known to every one; and Dr. Mead has ennobled the grey ground-lichen, by publishing its virtues in one of the molt terrible of all difeaies, the bite of a mad dog. The common green liverworts are known medicines in diforders of the bfeaft, as are alfo all the fpecies of polymelia. The feeds of our lycopodium are given with fuccefs in nephritic cafes ; and the Indians give one of their fpecies in manydiftempers, and as they fay, with great benefit. The common white ground coralloides ferves the rain-deer of Lapland for fopd, when all other herbage is loft ; and the conferva; ferve for food to many of the fifties both of the fea and rivers, and to feveral water-fowl. And thefe, as well as the land Moffes afford fhelter and habitation to many infects, and their young. Many of the fpecies of coralloides and li- chenoides are found of great ufe in that profitable branch of commerce the art of dying ; and doubtlefs many others have alfo the fame qualities, though not yet difcovered ; and we may be guided in fearches of this kind by obfervmg that many of them tinge the papers between which they are dried, to very beautiful and fatting colours. The MojJ'es which cover the trunks of trees, as they always are frefheft and molt vigo- rous on the fide which points to the north, if not only pro- duced on that, ferve to preferve the trunk of the tree from the feverity of the north-winds, and direct the traveller in his way, by always plainly pointing out that part of the compafs.
The foft marfh and hog Mojfes ferve the poor in many places for fluffing their beds, and in the bufinefs of trantporting plants from other countries ; nothing is of fo great ufe as the ftalks and leaves of thefe little vegetables : The fiicculent plants coming over in great beauty and vigour when rolled up in dry Mofs ; and trees andfhrubs, by having their roots co- vered with fuch as is fomewhat moift.
The great quality of the Moffes, which makes them fp fer- viceable in this cafe, is, that they do not heat and ferment on being moiftened, as hay and ftraw would.
Characters c/*Mosses. What the botanical writers ftrictly un- derftand by the word Mofs, is a clafs of plants appearing of an inferior rank, to the common vegetables ; the lefS perfect genera of which feem to be wholly deftitute of Bower or feed or any thing analogous to either, at leaft as far as our obfer- vations have hitherto been able to cany us, and to confift of fimple, fimilar, and uniform parts; the genera a little above thefe have fome diverfity of parts, and carry fomething that looks analogous to vegetation in the common way, having a refembtance of thofe parts which ferve other plants for their fructification. The more perfect genera of the Moffes not only confift of different parts, but haye alfo their appropriated organs containing a pulpy matter, which finally becomes dry, and aflumes the form of a fine and fubtle powder, compofed of granules, each of which is either a feed or a granule of farina fcrVing for the propagation of the fpecies. The more imperfect Moffes are diftinguifhed from the others by their appearance to the naked eye ; they are either in form of a fine lanugo, or down covering the furface of different bodies, or elfe they appear as Sender filaments or foliacious bodies floating about in the water, or as filaments of a tougher texture hanging down from the branches of old trees, or as little fhrubs or fingle horns growing erect on the parched earth of mountains and heathy places; or finally, as broad
and foKaceous bodies fpreading themfelves over the dry barks of trees or rocks, without any pedicle or other fupport. The more perfect kinds of Moffes are found in the fhape of fmall but regular plants, dividing into feveral branches, and clothed with leaves ; thefe are of various forms and-ftructures, fome being broad and thin, others flender as hairs ;*fome pel- lucid, others opake ; fome finooth, others hairy. From the alas of thefe leaves in fome kinds, and from the fummit of the ftalks in others, there arife heads or capfules of a various figure and ftrudture, but all unicapfular ; fome of thefe are naked, others covered with a calyptra or hood ; fome ffand on long pedicles, and others are placed clofe to the ftalks. Thefe heads are ufually called capjules, and their pedicles fefte, in the nmify hypna, brya, and polytricha ; but in the licbenes and lichenaflra the pedicles are called pediculi, and the heads capitella.
The byffi, conferva; and tremeJfe, appear to be wholly deftitute of feeds ; the feveral parts of thefe genera have no difference from one another ; and in the tr&neua, though there is often an appearance of leaves like thofe of trees, yet when examine ed they will be found to differ in this, that the upper and un- der fides are no way different.
The ufnecs, corollouks, and lichenoides, all have fomething which feems analogous to a flower or fruit in the perfect plants ; and all the other genera of Moffes as the fphagm, hypna, &c. have perfect fructifications, and produce the pow- der before- mentioned ferving in the place of farina; or feeds, and regularly propagatingtheplants. The mnia, lycopodioides, and above all others the lichens or liverworts, have perfect and regular fructifications obvious to the eye. The mnia have dufty heads, which appear plainly to be the female part of the fructification.
The lycopodioides has feveral capfules containing farinse, and befide thefe feveral female capfules containing feeds, and not farinas, interfperfed along the fame fpikes. The heads of the lichens or liverworts which contain the fa- rinse, differ from all the others in that they are polycoccous ; in this alfo they differ from the feed, bearing heads of the fame plants or fcypbi, as they are called, which are fingle, and contain the rudiments of feeds, obvious to the naked eye, which may be daily feen to encreafe ; and the propagation o£ the plant from them is eafily obferved through its feveral ftages : This however is very fmgular, and extremely different from that of all other plants, in that the whole operation confifts only in the dilatation of the feeds, \hey having no heart or eye, as it is called, in the feeds of the larger plants, no place from whence the radicle is to moot, nor any feminal leaves, but expanding fimply into breadth, they become young plants like the parent.
The other genera of Moffes have all capfules for the contain- ing their feed or farina;. Thefe, in fome, are covered with a calyptra or hood, in others they are naked. Of the firft kind are va&fphagnd, brya, fontinalcs, hypna, and polytricha ; and of the latter, the felagines, lycopod'ia, poronics, anthocera, and lichenaflra.
The capfules of the fphagna have no calyptra, becaufe the heads being placed on extremely fhort pedicles, and the leaves of the plant long, they are covered and defended by them; and having befide a very rigid and fliff" operculum, they are in no neceffity of any other covering ; but the font 'males, hypna, brya, and polytricha, are all defended in their capfules by ca- lyptra;, left the too abundant humidity fhould deftroy the feeds. The operculum Aides off from all thefe in a tranfverfe direction ; for when the included pulp in the capfule becomes ripened into feeds or farina;, the notched parts of the rim arife from the furface, and expand themfelves outward, by means of which the operculum is at liberty to fall off", and the feeds have liberty to fall out, and propagate the plants. The felagines, lycopodia, and lycopodioides, have neither cap- fule, operculum, nor calyptra ; for the fruits of thefe genera lying immerfed in the alas of the leaves, they need no fuch coverings ; but they ffand naked clofe to the ftalk, and when mature, they open longitudinally, and throw out their feeds. The fruits of the anthocera open in .the fame manner, but they are of a very different figure, refembling pods, whereas the others are of a kidney-like fhape.
The poronire arc very fmgular, in that their capfules are per- forated with many holes, thro' which the feeds or farina; are difcharged when ripe. The heads of the lichenaflra, when they are ripe, become lucid, and opening into four parts, carry the appearance of a tetrapetalous, or four-leaved cruci- form flower.
The fubftance with which the heads or capfules of all the Moffes are filled, refembles either feeds, or the fmall globules of the farina? of flowers, which all refemble feeds of particu- lar figures in miniature. The fructifications of thefe minute plants feem to be either from thefe, as feeds falling to the 1 earth; or, according to the opinion of fome, they feem to contain only fafinae in the capfules, which impregnating cer- tain bulbs or nodules in the als of the leaves, caufe them to grow and vegetate, as is feen in fome of the larger plants, as in the bulbs produced in the aloe of the leaves of the dentaria, and of the lillies, and fome others. The former opinion, of the powder in the heads or capfules, being actually
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