As I find this platform cumbersome to work with, I invite you to follow my Instagram account at ne_mosses I will be posting photos of mosses nearby (for me, western Mass) as well as excerpts from my upcoming book Ecological Guide to Mosses of New England. Hope to see you there! Sue
Moss Notes
Thoughts on mosses and liverworts in the New England area.
Saturday, December 5, 2020
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Looking for Gold....Goblins Gold
When you find yourself looking deep under a ledge where the light is dim, or way in a deep dark recess under a root, or even in the dim light of an old stone foundation under a barn, that’s the time to be looking for gold.....Goblin’s Gold.
Reaching in, you grab a handful of the shiny stuff, but when you open your hand there’s nothing there! You might just have found Schistostega pennata. A tiny delicate moss that can grow in the darkest of holes on soil. The shiny stuff you see is the persistent luminous protonema from which it arises. Sometimes you might find yourself holding a fragile, tiny, pale-green, fern-like moss which is the sterile form and most often seen. It shrivels quite quickly when removed from the dark, moist soil where you found it. If you are lucky enough to find capsules, you’ll see that they are ovoid, erect and have no peristome, or teeth, around the mouth.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Bryophyte course at Eagle Hill
This June I will be coteaching a beginners bryophyte course with Jerry Jenkins at Eagle Hill in Maine.
For Information on this course: http://www.eaglehill.us/ programs/nhs/seminar-flyer- pdfs/2015Mosses_ JenkinsWilliams.pdf
Hope to see you there!
For Information on this course: http://www.eaglehill.us/
For general program information, go to http://www.eaglehill.us/ seminars
For more information, contact Marilyn Mayer: marilyn@eaglehill.us or 207-546-2821
Hope to see you there!
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Moss Word of the Day: JULACEOUS
JOO-LAY-SHUS
What a great word!
But what does it mean in reference to mosses?
It means that the branch is smoothly cylindric, the leaves so closely overlapping that it resembles a caterpillar or catkin.
Some common mosses that have julaceous branches are....
This moss is not as julaceous as it's relative Myurella julacea.
Both are very tiny little mosses that like to grow in rock crevices on thin soil or mixed with other mosses on basic or calcareous rock.
Medium sized mosses would include Thelia asprella & T. hirtella, both species like to grow on tree bases in oak-hickory woods, and also Entodon seductrix which is found on limy rocks, soil and tree bases.
One of our largest julaceous mosses is Bryoandersonia illecebra which is very worm-like when new shoots first appear in the spring. It grows on the ground.
What a great word!
But what does it mean in reference to mosses?
It means that the branch is smoothly cylindric, the leaves so closely overlapping that it resembles a caterpillar or catkin.
Some common mosses that have julaceous branches are....
Myurella sibirica |
Both are very tiny little mosses that like to grow in rock crevices on thin soil or mixed with other mosses on basic or calcareous rock.
Medium sized mosses would include Thelia asprella & T. hirtella, both species like to grow on tree bases in oak-hickory woods, and also Entodon seductrix which is found on limy rocks, soil and tree bases.
Thelia hirtella |
close up of Thelia asprella (photo by Jerry Jenkins) |
Entodon seductrix (photo by Jerry Jenkins) |
One of our largest julaceous mosses is Bryoandersonia illecebra which is very worm-like when new shoots first appear in the spring. It grows on the ground.
Bryoandersonia illecebra in spring (photo by Jerry Jenkins) |
Sunday, March 10, 2013
a march day interlude
it's a beautiful sunny day today so i went for a little hike and during that hike i was looking at the mosses on tree trunks as there's still so much snow on the ground.
i was thinking about ulota crispa and orthotrichum and how, when i first started mosses, i didn't know the difference between the two.
so i got out my camera and tried to get some shots from far away to close up of the two.
both were growing on the same big maple tree in my yard.
on a dry day, they are very easy to tell apart!
ulota crispa (like its name) has very 'crisped' and curly leaves when it's dry.
orthotrichum, on the other hand, has leaves that are straight and hug the stem.
so, on your next hike in the woods or on trees in your yard, see if you can find both species!
i was thinking about ulota crispa and orthotrichum and how, when i first started mosses, i didn't know the difference between the two.
so i got out my camera and tried to get some shots from far away to close up of the two.
both were growing on the same big maple tree in my yard.
on a dry day, they are very easy to tell apart!
ulota crispa (like its name) has very 'crisped' and curly leaves when it's dry.
orthotrichum, on the other hand, has leaves that are straight and hug the stem.
so, on your next hike in the woods or on trees in your yard, see if you can find both species!
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Mnium Group
then in 1968 T.J. Koponen separated them into different groups:
1) Leaf margin entire (or obscurely toothed): Pseudobryum, Cyrtomnium & Rhizomnium
2) Leaf margins with single teeth: Plagiomnium
3) Leaf margins with double teeth: Mnium
Let's take a look at the first group:
Rhizomniums are fairly common in our area, especially R. punctatum and R. appalachianum
Both species have leaves that have a strong border of long cells with interior cells that are roundish.
R. punctatum is much smaller than R. appalachianum and i find it most often on rocks in wet areas whereas R. appalachianum grows in wet, swampy soil.
Rhizomnium punctatum |
R. punctatum - note the smooth stems Rhizomnium punctatum also has no tomentum or brownish hairs growing up the stem; only at the base. |
a nice clump of Rhizomnium appalachianum |
a scan of R. appalachianum. notice how the stem is covered with brown 'stuff' covering the stem. |
Pseudobryum cinclidiodes, compare the leaf shape to R. appalachianum |
Cyrtomnium hymenophylloides |
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
More on Bryums & Mniums
Let's start with the differences: although both groups have drooping capsules, Bryums have capsules with distinct 'necks':
Bryum caespiticium capsule the neck is the top smaller 'bulge' before the stem. |
Plagiomnium cuspidatum capsule (with calyptra) note that although the capsule is drooping, there is no 'neck' to it |
Bryum caespiticium leaf |
Mnium leaves tend to be large-ish, rounded, oblong, elliptical or obovate and often have obvious teeth (excepting the Rhizomnium group, which we'll talk about later).
Mnium spinulosum leaf |
Plagiomnium ciliare leaf |
Although both groups have leaves that are bordered with long cells, the border is usually quite strong in the Mniums and weaker in Bryums. The interior cells are also different, with Mnium cells being generally round or hexagonal and Bryums having long rectangular or diamond-shaped (rhomboidal) cells.
This drawing is a section from the edge of Plagiomnium ciliare, note the rounded interior cells bordered by several rows of long cells and the long, multicellular teeth |
Interior rhomboidal cells from Rhodobryum ontariense |
So, now you know how to tell a Bryum from a Mnium...
next post we'll talk about the main groups of Mnium: Rhizomnium, Plagiomnium & Mnium
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