Moss n.
 1. Bot. A cryptogamous plant of a cellular structure, with distinct stem and simple leaves.  The fruit is a small capsule usually opening by an apical lid, and so discharging the spores.  There are many species, collectively termed Musci, growing on the earth, on rocks, and trunks of trees, etc., and a few in running water.
 Note: ☞ The term moss is also popularly applied to many other small cryptogamic plants, particularly lichens, species of which are called tree moss, rock moss, coral moss, etc. Fir moss and club moss are of the genus Lycopodium. See Club moss, under Club, and Lycopodium.
 2. A bog; a morass; a place containing peat; as, the mosses of the Scottish border.
 Note: ☞ Moss is used with participles in the composition of words which need no special explanation; as, moss-capped, moss-clad, moss-covered, moss-grown, etc.
 Black moss. See under Black, and Tillandsia.
 Bog moss. See Sphagnum.
 Feather moss, any moss branched in a feathery manner, esp. several species of the genus Hypnum.
 Florida moss, Long moss, or Spanish moss. See Tillandsia.
 Iceland moss, a lichen. See Iceland Moss.
 Irish moss, a seaweed. See Carrageen.
 Moss agate Min., a variety of agate, containing brown, black, or green mosslike or dendritic markings, due in part to oxide of manganese. Called also Mocha stone.
 Moss animal Zool., a bryozoan.
 Moss berry Bot., the small cranberry (Vaccinium Oxycoccus).
 Moss campion Bot., a kind of mosslike catchfly (Silene acaulis), with mostly purplish flowers, found on the highest mountains of Europe and America, and within the Arctic circle.
 Moss land, land produced accumulation of aquatic plants, forming peat bogs of more or less consistency, as the water is grained off or retained in its pores.
 Moss pink Bot., a plant of the genus Phlox (Phlox subulata), growing in patches on dry rocky hills in the Middle United States, and often cultivated for its handsome flowers. --Gray.
 Moss rose Bot., a variety of rose having a mosslike growth on the stalk and calyx.  It is said to be derived from the Provence rose.
 Moss rush Bot., a rush of the genus Juncus (Juncus squarrosus).
 Scale moss. See Hepatica.


 Scale, n.
 1. Anat. One of the small, thin, membranous, bony or horny pieces which form the covering of many fishes and reptiles, and some mammals, belonging to the dermal part of the skeleton, or dermoskeleton. See Cycloid, Ctenoid, and Ganoid.
 Fish that, with their fins and shining scales,
 Glide under the green wave.   --Milton.
 2. Hence, any layer or leaf of metal or other material, resembling in size and thinness the scale of a fish; as, a scale of iron, of bone, etc.
 3. Zool. One of the small scalelike structures covering parts of some invertebrates, as those on the wings of Lepidoptera and on the body of Thysanura; the elytra of certain annelids. See Lepidoptera.
 4. Zool. A scale insect. (See below.)
 5. Bot. A small appendage like a rudimentary leaf, resembling the scales of a fish in form, and often in arrangement; as, the scale of a bud, of a pine cone, and the like. The name is also given to the chaff on the stems of ferns.
 6. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a pocketknife. See Illust. of Pocketknife.
 7. An incrustation deposit on the inside of a vessel in which water is heated, as a steam boiler.
 8. Metal. The thin oxide which forms on the surface of iron forgings. It consists essentially of the magnetic oxide, Fe3O4. Also, a similar coating upon other metals.
 Covering scale Zool., a hydrophyllium.
 Ganoid scale. Zool. See under Ganoid.
 Scale armor Mil., armor made of small metallic scales overlapping, and fastened upon leather or cloth.
 Scale beetle Zool., the tiger beetle.
 Scale carp Zool., a carp having normal scales.
 Scale insect Zool., any one of numerous species of small hemipterous insects belonging to the family Coccidae, in which the females, when adult, become more or less scalelike in form. They are found upon the leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs, and often do great damage to fruit trees. See Orange scale,under Orange.
 Scale moss Bot., any leafy-stemmed moss of the order Hepaticae; -- so called from the small imbricated scalelike leaves of most of the species. See Hepatica, 2, and Jungermannia.


 He·pat·i·ca n.; pl. Hepaticae
 1. Bot. A genus of pretty spring flowers closely related to Anemone; squirrel cup.
 2. bot. Any plant, usually procumbent and mosslike, of the cryptogamous class Hepaticae; -- called also scale moss and liverwort. See Hepaticae, in the Supplement.

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 scale moss
      n : mosslike liverwort with tiny scalelike leaves; usually
          epiphytic [syn: leafy liverwort]