The Collaborative International Dictionary
Moss \Moss\ (m[o^]s; 115), n. [OE. mos; akin to AS. me['o]s, D. mos, G. moos, OHG. mos, mios, Icel. mosi, Dan. mos, Sw. mossa, Russ. mokh', L. muscus. Cf. Muscoid.]
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(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.
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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 (Zo["o]l.), 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.
WordNet
n. tuft- or mat-forming dwarf perennial of arctic regions of western and central Europe and North America [syn: Silene acaulis]
Usage examples of "moss campion".
Roger sees his hands blur through space, sees the flesh of Dougal's face pulsing pinkly, like the flowers of moss campion.
When they left he went out onto the arcing ridge and sat on one of his sitting boulders, and looked at the meadows stringing through the talus, concentrating on what he had, on this world of the senses, rock and lichen and moss campion.
Glowing vividly in the morning light were the classic fellfield organisms: moss campion, with its rings of tiny pink flowers on dark green pads.
Arctic cinque- I, with small yellow flowers, found protection from the wind in the ne sheltered pockets and niches preferred by pikas, while on exposed faces, cushions of moss campion with purple or pink blossoms med their own protective hummocks of leafy stems in the cold fmg winds.
Tommy slumped down on a rock and poked at a clump of moss campion with his walking stick.
There were bright purple saxifrages, and mountain avens and cushions of moss campion studded with tiny white blossoms.
Now the sky was a maroon dome, the high clouds the pink of moss campion.