Cup Moss.
Muscus pyxidatus.
A common little plant on ditch banks, by wood sides, and in dry barren places. It consists of a thin coat of a leafy matter, spread upon the surface of the ground, and of a kind of a little cups rising from it. The leafy part is dry and without juice, divided into several portions, and these irregularly notched; it is grey or greenish on the upper side, and whitish underneath. The cups are half an inch high. They have each a thick stem, and an open mouth, and rather resemble a clumsy drinking glass, than a cup. They are of a grey colour, often with some odd mixture of green, of a dusty surface; sometimes they grow one from the edge of another, up to the third or fourth stage: they have also many other accidental varieties and sometimes they bear little brown lumps, which are supposed to contain the seeds.
The whole plant is to be used; it is to be taken fresh from the ground, shook clean, and boiled in water, till the decoction be very strong; then there is to be added as much milk as there is of the liquor, and it is to be sweetened with honey. It is an excellent medicine for children's coughs: it is recommended particularly in that called the chincough.
