Discover Top Posts Tagged with #racomitrium

Lichens and a moss (on the second picture) in the forests of Värmland, Sweden (January 26, 2018).

#lichen #moss #cladonia stellaris #racomitrium #hypogymnia physodes #usnea

#2281 - Racomitrium sp.

A grey moss that turns green if wet. It covers much of the ground in the Rangipo Desert. Higher up the volcanoes it's even more common.

I'm hardly the first person to notice - this field trip report from 1986, for example

Above about 1350m Racomitrium lanuginosum became a conspicuous part of the vegetation unable to be completely ignored even by 'higher' botanists.

I'm not sure it's lanuginosum though - some resources say that that's a Northern hemisphere species, common in alpine and tundra habitats on acidic boulder scree and bare rock. Which would fit here too. It's also known as woolly fringemoss, hoary rock-moss and woolly moss. 'lanuginosum' means 'with woolly down'. See also Lanugo - soft woolly hair that covers the fetus of some mammals including humans.

Racomitrium is a widespread genus, worldwide.

#Grimmiaceae #Racomitrium #new zealand plant #woolly moss #moss #rangipo desert