Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Mosses > Genus Georgia > Georgia Pellucida Moss

Georgia Pellucida Moss

Georgia pellucida, Rabenh.

Habit and habitat.-Erect, rather densely crowded, bright-green above, red below. On decayed common.

Name.-The specific name pellucida from the Latin per, through, and lucida, transparent, refers to the texture of the leaves, which are very translucent.

Plant (gametophyte).-Stems of two kinds, (1) the fertile 1/2 to 1 inch long, pale red, simple or branching in pairs, fibrous at the base with crowded leaves tufted at the summit of the stein; (2) gemmae-bearing, the gemmae disk-like with short stalks, greenish, transparent, inclosed in a rosette of 4 to 5 bracts.

Leaves.-The lower leaves are small, remote, erect, appressed, broadly lance-shaped and red; the upper leaves are larger, broader, not Iying against the stem; margin entire; vein vanishing below the apex; cells round-hexagonal above, elongated and rectangular at the base. It is not an uncommon thing to find gemmae which have fallen from the cups, entangled and growing among the leaves.

Leaves at the base of the pedicel (perichaetial leaves).-Lance-shaped, sheathing elongated, rather obtuse.

Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers on the same plant (rnonoicous) ; male flower-clusters bud-like at the apex of the shoots which arise in pairs.

Veil (calyptra).-White below, more solid and red above, mitreform, reaching to the middle of the spore-case, irregularly folded lengthwise into 8 or 9 ridges, somewhat ragged at the base.

Spore-case. - Erect, elongated, cylindric, pale-brown with the mouth red.

Pedicel (seta). - Straight, smooth, purple; when dry twisted to the left in the lower part, to the right above, 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long.

Lid (operculum). -Thin, conical, straight or oblique,

Annulus.-None.

Teeth (peristome).-Four, erect, brown, pyramidal, grooved lengthwise on the back, arising from below the rim of the spore-case.

Columella.-Slender, cylindrical.

Spores.-Small, smooth, green, mature from July to September.

Distribution. - Widely in America, Europe and Asia.