Get Into Moss

Learn more about Bryophytes, the first plants! I try to use my own photos and haven’t identified all of them (need a sample and lots of lab work!) but if I have ID’d it I’ll put the name in. I volunteer to identify mosses and other things for herbariums.

[mossinformed]

Are you a fan of moss? Want to find out what Bryophytes even are? Well, here’s a link to 5 books published by the author for free, no paywall and no sign-up necessary! You can even view in the browser. And there’s cute pics :-o

Bryophyte Ecology ebook | Michigan Technological University Research | Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech

“Bryophyte Ecology is an ebook comprised of 5 volumes written by Janice Glime, Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences at Michigan Technological University. Chapter coauthors include Irene Bisang, S. Robbert Gradstein, J. Lissner, W. J. Boelema, and D. H. Wagner. If you are a returning visitor, be sure to refresh your browser in case there have been recent updates.”

Want to curl up in the moss and never come out? Garden your own, make art, close a wound, or make human proteins by genetically engineering moss?

Why are bog bodies preserved so well? Sphagnum occupies 1/3 of the land on our planet, where can you see some? Mosses can be dead and alive (and another secret third thing).

What are mosses, why are they so much weirder than you thought?

Mosses, fish, frogs, slugs (and more!) and a checklist of bryophyte-dwelling salamanders just in case.

What you can do for mosses, how to curate your own archive, collect, identify and donate them to an herbarium so mosses can be protected! Seriously, you can’t get more mosscore than that.

Once I ID the specimen in this photo I’ll add the name : )

[dreams-in-daylight]

Found some umbrella liverwort :0

[drhoz]

Moss Leaf / Hypnum cupressiforme - 1000x microscope

[mossinformed]

I love being a botanist bc I will go to a place, start a conversation with an employee like “I have a really weird question for you”

And then walk out of there 5 min later with moss in a Tupperware

[mossinformed]

Here she is folks! A beautiful yellow-green pleurocarpous moss, which means it tends to be creeping rather than being straight upright and it has its sporophyte coming from a sideways bud on a branch rather than at the top of a branch.

That’s usually one of the the first characteristics they have you look for in a key to identify.

[mossinformed]

Finished this one finally! Isopterygiopsis pulchella also known as Neat Silkmoss

It’s a cosmopolitan species so it could have come with the plants in the greenhouse or from the outside.

[drhoz]

#3534 - Phaeoceros sp. - Hornwort

'Yellow-horn'.

Hornworts are a Division of non-vascular land plants with an elongated horn-like diploid sporophyte at some points of the year, and a flattened green gametophyte stage that only contains one copy of the genome. Liverworts and mosses are similarly dominated by the gametophyte stage. Spores in this genus are yellow - hence the name.

Hornworts may be found worldwide, usually in damp or humid areas. Some are weedy in gardens and fields, and large tropical and sub-tropical species of Dendroceros may grow as epiphytes. Uniquely among land plants, some hornworts have an organelle and biochemistry that can concentrate CO2 to over 50 times atmospheric levels. Many have slime-filled cavities that are colonised by nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria like Nostoc.

The total number of species is uncertain - more than 300 names have been published, but the number of actually valid taxa may be a third of that.

Julimar State Forest, WA.

[zedogica]

ok. i survived 25 years outside the international space station. who gives a shit

[biglawbear]

Technically most moss is outside the international space station

[davvvd]

[mossinformed]

Tragically common occurrence for me 😩

Usually this “fake moss” you see above is actually lichen in the Cladonia genus. A cursory google search may say that this is once of the most common lichen (which is technically true), HOWEVER none of these can be farmed or cultivated, and they are rapidly disappearing across ecosystems. All these lichens are harvested from the wild in an entirely unregulated way. Lichens also grow very very slowly, many less than one millimeter per year if at all!! That’s like cutting down an old growth tree to put on an art project, a choice that people have the right to know that they are making, but it is definitely not something people selling these products disclose.

Here you can find a paper with more background info! Please consider avoiding crafting with these organisms 💚 more info and a paper under the cut

A few months ago a colleague alerted me to MossTiles, which can be attached to walls to create interior vertical gardens. They look really c

https://www.reddit.com/r/Mosses/comments/ix2rg0/save_the_moss/#:~:text=Moss%20Poaching%20Impact:%20Most%20moss%20sold%20commercially,which%20is%20unsustainable%20and%20severely%20damages%20ecosystems.

Reddit - The heart of the internet

Dalip K. Upreti, Pradeep K. Divakar, Sanjeeva Nayaka "Commercial and Ethnic Use of Lichens in India," Economic Botany, 59(3), 269-273, (1 June 2005)

https://bioone.org/journals/economic-botany/volume-59/issue-3/0013-0001_2005_059_0269_CAEUOL_2.0.CO_2/Commercial-and-Ethnic-Use-of-Lichens-in-India/10.1663/0013-0001(2005)059[0269:CAEUOL]2.0.CO;2.short

[humanbyweight]

It's moss season. :3

[mossinformed]

[dogpuppy]

[woodventure]

[mossinformed]

Moss and Cladonia lichen species can often be found together!

[morg-lefay]

Fairy rings in moss, Iceland

[wild-e-eep]

Hart's tongue thyme moss - Plagoimnium undulatum.

[going-insane-cryptid-style]

Verry cool moss/lichen? I found

[mossinformed]

This is Lichen! It’s a species in Cladonia. You can’t really distinguish between species in there without doing some pretty significant chemistry. I mildly poisoned myself doing this a few weeks ago : ) (but this is probably one of the fairy cup groups). Cladonia also love to grow in/around moss so you’ll often see them together.

[melangle]

[mossinformed]

One of my students (13 y/o) unprompted came up to me and asked if I could bring my microscope to school so she could identify some moss! And she identified her first moss!!

it’s Bryum argentum!! everybody clap and cheer

I still want to x2 check some microscopic features (we used a stereo microscope) but she’s looking pretty good!!

[ecdykesone]

the bog gave me a vision

[kay-outside]

PEAT MOSS. BOGS. I LOVE THEM. They have the best tiny plants. They have a great aesthetic. They are pillowy soft. They store water. They filter water. One gram of moss can be home to millions of cool microorganisms. WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE