MUSCI, in botany, mosses, one of the seven families into which Linnaeus divid ed all vegetables. The characteristics of these plants are, anthers without fila ments : the male flower constituted by the presence of the anthers, placed apart from the female, either on the same or distinct roots ; the female flower depriv ed of the pistillum ; the seeds devoid of both lobes, and proper coverings. These plants constitute the second order of the class Cryptogamia, which contains all the plants, in which the parts of the flower and fruit are wanting, or are not conspicu ous. This order is subdivided into eleven genera, from the presence or absence of the calyx, which in these plants is a veil that is placed over the tops of the stami na, and denominated calyptra ; from the sexes of the plants, which bear male and female flowers, sometimes on the same, sometimes on distinct roots, and from the manner of growth of the female flowers, which are sometimes produced singly, sometimes in bunches or cones.
Moser, is also the name of the fifty sixth order in Linnzus's Fragments of a Natural Method, consisting of a genera, which are exactly those of the second or der in the class Cryptogamia. These
plants resemble the pines and firs, and other in that class, in the form and disposition of their leaves, and man ner and growth of the female flowers, which are generally formed into a cone. They frequently creep and extend them selves like a carpet upon the ground, trees, and stones, collected into bunches or tufts. Few of the mosses are annual plants; they are mostly perennial and evergreens. Their growth is remarkably slow ; though preserved dry several years, these plants have the singular pro perty of resuming their original verdure upon being moistened. They delight in a cool moist situation, and northerly ex posure, where they are screened from the sun. The roots are fibrous, slender, branched and short. The stems and branches are cylindric, and weak, they creep on the ground, and strike root on every side.