Sphaerangium Muticum Moss
Individual plants are more or less separated.Habit and habitat. On bare clay or sandy soil.
Name.-The specific name muticum, blunt, refers to the apex of
the spore-case.
Plants (gametophyte).-Like yellow-brown buds 1/8 of an inch high.
Leaves.-The lower and middle oval and long taper-pointed; apex
recurved, with a short sharp point; vein passing beyond the apex; the
upper two or three, twice as large as the lower; apex irregularly toothed.
Habit of flowering.-Male and female flowers on the same plant (monoicous).
Veil (calyptra).-Very small, erect, conical, with a long beak.
Spore-case.-Orange, spherical, immersed. Pedicel.-Very short.
Lid (operculum). -None.
Teeth (peristome).-None.
Spores.-Mature in winter and early spring.
Distribution.-Europe, Africa, and North America.