''Funaria hygrometrica'', the bonfire moss or common cord-moss, is a type of water moss which grows on shady, moist soil. It can also be found on moist walls and the crevices of rocks and places where recent fires have taken place. It has been reported to grow in Niagara Cave, an artificially illuminated cave devoid of natural light. Under such conditions, its growth form changes so that the

internodes A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant, the other being the root. It supports leaves, flowers and fruits, transports water and dissolved substances between the roots and the shoots in the xylem and phloem, stores nutrien ...

lengthen and the

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

become longer and narrower. The plant body is green, soft and upright, about half an inch tall. The

rhizoid Rhizoids are protuberances that extend from the lower epidermal cells of bryophytes and algae. They are similar in structure and function to the root hairs of vascular land plants. Similar structures are formed by some fungi. Rhizoids may be unic ...

s present in this species are multi-cellular and branched. They have oblique septa. The main axis of the plant, which is upright, bears a set of spirally arranged,

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

leaves having a clearly distinguishable midrib. Funaria_hygrometrica_TK_2022-04-30_5

At the apex of the main plant axis, the

antheridium An antheridium is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gametes (called ''antherozoids'' or sperm). The plural form is antheridia, and a structure containing one or more antheridia is called an androecium. Androecium is also ...

is borne. This is the male part of the shoot. A lateral branch from the main plant axis bears the female shoot

archegonium An archegonium (pl: archegonia), from the ancient Greek ''ἀρχή'' ("beginning") and ''γόνος'' ("offspring"), is a multicellular structure or organ of the gametophyte phase of certain plants, producing and containing the ovum or female ga ...

at its

meristem The meristem is a type of tissue found in plants. It consists of undifferentiated cells (meristematic cells) capable of cell division. Cells in the meristem can develop into all the other tissues and organs that occur in plants. These cells conti ...

. Experiments have shown that F. hygrometrica can withstand water with 90% heavy water.

References

External links

* http://worldofmosses.com/paintings/mosspics03.html * http://www.eol.org/pages/923991 Funariales Taxa named by Johann Hedwig {{bryophyte-stub