Learning about Mosses

Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans

Posted on February 6, 2024 by wildfife

Elegant Silk-moss

I began to notice this moss growing in flat smooth patches around the larger Mnium hornum mosses on the steep bare banks of Keils Den. They seem to be a regular partnership here.

The shoots are generally flat with a silky sheen.

However, I’ve also found it looking a bit fluffier.

The book says it likes – or tolerates – an acid substrate, and bare earth banks in woodland seem to be a classic habitat.

Up close, you can sometimes see the bunches of small vegetative branchlets which grow in the leaf axils. They’re particularly obvious at the shoot tips. The smooth silky look gives way to a fuzzy appearance.

In the picture below, the shoot on the right is covered in these branchlets.

It seems to vary in the width of the shoots, and can look beautifully glossy or a bit like rats’ tails…

But I love it when mixed in with the other mosses – such a contrast with the bushy Mnium and the spiky Polytrichum.

Pictures taken in Keil’s Den, 2023 and 2024, and the grounds of Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, January 2024.

Posted in Bare earth, Hypnales, Woods | Leave a comment

Fissidens taxifolius

Posted on December 22, 2023 by wildfife

Common Pocket-moss

Often, this moss appears as tiny green shoots poking through a bank of earth.

But it can grow into sizeable clumps, on stone as well as earth.

It has the flat fingered look of all the Fissidens, with a little pocket tucked into the base of the leaf.

Although there are other Fissidens around, this one seems to be the most common locally. Its distinctive features are the lack of a border running round the leaves, the nerve extruding from the leaf tip, and capsules emerges near the base of the stem (not at the tip).

The new growth on the shoots is a much brighter green, making the moss stand out.

Sometimes minute, sometimes quite robust, always nice to find.

Pictures from Keil’s Den, St Andrews Botanic Gardenand the Cocklemill burn.

Posted in Dicranales | Leave a comment

Brachythecium albicans

Posted on August 29, 2023 by wildfife

Whiteish Feather-moss

What a terrible name to give to this moss – Whiteish Feather-moss. It’s usually described as yellow-green, or pale. Anyway, it was the colour and the upright stringy shoots which made me notice it in the dunes at Tentsmuir.

The shoots are slightly fluffy at the tip, because the leaf ends in a long point.

When it’s dry, it all becomes much more stringy in appearance, with the leaves tightly appressed to the stem. I need to find a picture of this.

At Tentsmuir, it was growing on the sand dunes, in company with Syntrichia ruraliformis and plants such as the Sea Pea.

I’ve also had it pointed out to me growing among lawn grass at Newhailes – much greener here.

It’s one that I’ve been trying to recognise for a while, but have sometimes got confused with pale versions of Brachythecium rutabulum. However, in the dunes it stood out. I had a last minute wobble, wondering if it might actually be Brachythecium mildeanum, which isn’t common here but is possibly under-recorded. However, under the microscope the alar cells were square and distinct, so I’m going with B. albicans.

Posted in Dunes, Hypnales | Leave a comment

Bartramia pomiformis

Posted on March 28, 2023 by wildfife

Common Apple-moss

Growing away at the foot of a small, north-facing cliff, this moss was crying out to be noticed. The pale green capsules looked like a host of small balloons. Or like apples!

The old capsules are brown and ribbed.

The Guide says that the capsules stay on the plant for a long time, which is a bonus. The leaves are pale glaucous green, nicely separated and in spiky little clumps.

Under the microscope, I could see that the top edges are toothed.

The rocks at Drumcarrow are igneous, as far as I can find out. (Dolerite sill.) The Guide says: “B. pomiformis is a calcifuge, preferring base-poor rock types including sandstone and shale.” This is all very difficult, but I think it all matches up: it means the moss is growing in a fairly acid environment without the limestone which is present in some parts of Fife.

Anyway, it was thriving in its little sheltered corner and I was delighted to find it there.

Posted in Bryales | Leave a comment

Encalypta streptocarpa again

Posted on February 18, 2023 by wildfife

Spiral Extinguisher-moss

I first did a blog about Encalypta streptocarpa five years ago, after finding it near Abernethy. Since then, I’ve never come across it. But here it was, making itself very much at home on a field wall at Kilmux. I didn’t recognise it in its dry, curly state.

It obviously likes growing in the crevices and cracks between the stones.

Close up and damp, the individual plants have broad leaves with parallel sides, narrowing into a rounded but slightly pointed tip. I like Mr Watson’s description: “it gives the impression of a robust species of Tortula without a hair-point to the leaf”.

I’d love to find capsules, but the Guide says they’re rarely present. Instead, there are thread-like propagules in the leaf axils.

The individual leaves had a dark end, clearly visible on the microscope slide.

`It was good to see it in abundance.

Pictures taken February 2023, Kilmux farm road, Fife

Posted in Encalyptales, Walls | Leave a comment

Streblotrichum convolutum / Barbula convoluta

Posted on September 20, 2022 by wildfife

Lesser Bird’s-claw Beard-moss

Tiny little mosses can be so difficult, but this one seems to stand out because of its bright yellow green colour and minute size. It used to be called Barbula convoluta but has recently been given an upgrade – Streblotrichum convolutum seems much grander.

When you get closer, you see that the little moss plants are all quite distinct and separate, and it has quite a clean, crisp look.

The leaves are held back from the stem and have a concave look. When the moss dries, the leaves become twisted.

Going as close as possible, I could see that the leaves run down on to the stem.

But despite its big name, Streblotrichum convolutum really is minute. Here’s some growing next to a (tiny) Bryum, with grains of sand for scale.

The book says it likes disturbed, open habitats such as paths, gardens, fields and walls. The pictures here are from my garden, a path at Dumbarnie links, and a bit of flat open ground at Dumbarnie. So it must be quite a tough wee thing, and not mind a bit of trampling.

Another close up, with Bryum and grains of sand for scale.

Posted in Bare earth, Pottiales | Leave a comment

Hypopterygium tamarisci

Posted on August 28, 2022 by wildfife

Something a bit different. A moss from the southern hemisphere. I saw a tweet about its presence on tree ferns in Glasgow Botanic Gardens (@AverisBen) and being along that way this weekend, had a look for myself.

It wasn’t hard to find! Most of the tree ferns were covered in it, and it’s also spread to surrounding rocks and earth.

I didn’t have time / space / handlens to look closely at it there, but was pleased to see that I captured some sporophytes in my photo.

I liked its pale green feathery delicacy.

I haven’t found out much about it apart from a few facts gleaned from Google.

Hypopterygium tamarisci is widely distributed in Africa, S and SE Asia, Australasia, Oceania, as well as South and Central America, where it extends into Mexico and the Caribbean. It is a species of mainly mountainous tropical and warm temperate areas. (1) It is a dendroid moss of wet forest with limited distribution. (2) And it can be densely gregarious or just isolated stems arising from rocks, tree ferns or tree trunks or less often logs or soil, up to 7 cm tall. (3)

I can’t even find whether it has a common name. Tree Fern Tamarisk Moss sounds like a good one to me.

(1)(https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/nova_hedwigia/detail/91/75410/Modelling_the_distribution_of_the_moss_species_Hypopterygium_tamarisci_Hypopterygiaceae_Bryophyta_in_Central_and_South_America)

(2)(https://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/Mosses/mHYPOPTERYGIACEAE/sHypopter_tamar.htm)

(3)(https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/6571ed03-f4ea-48ce-9655-21b702956304)

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dicranoweisia cirrata

Posted on August 22, 2022 by wildfife

Common Pincushion

It’s so easy to see how this one gets its common name, in winter anyway when the capsules stick up like pins from a dense green cushion.

So far, I’ve usually found it on fence posts – probably because I now look out for it on fence posts! but Charles Howie found it in other situations, such as the trunk of an old pear tree, on top of an old wall, or on rocks above Craighall Den. Hopefully I’ll become familiar with it in other habitats too – there are lots of records of it in Fife.

It seems to like the fence posts which are beginning to rot a little. Or does the water-holding moss encourage the wood to rot?

The leaves are sturdy and fairly straight when damp, but they twist up tightly when dry. This clump is just beginning to dry:

And these are the twisted dry leaves of summer:

Here’s the same clump looking fresh in January, then rather tired at the end of August (in contrast to the vegetation!) It’s really shrunk back.

The winter capsules are wonderful, shiny brown with a papery calyptra.

Later, they develop red shades.

The moss also uses gemmae to propagate – multicellular gemmae, which are held in the axils of the leaves. Like a tiny beastie.

A nice moss, and definitely one to look out for this winter.

Update – May 2023

Found it on a fallen branch, April 2023.

Posted in Dicranales, Fence post | Leave a comment

Anomodon viticulosus

Posted on April 5, 2022 by wildfife

Rambling Tail-moss

Anomodon viticulosus general tree

This is a large, soft moss which I’ve only ever seen growing on one tree, a Field Maple. The BBS Guide lists quite a number of typical habitats, but not tree trunks. However, it’s well established on this old tree in Craighall Den, Ceres, along with Neckera complanata.

Anomodon viticulosus general

The trailing tails end in starry points, and when it’s damp, the leaves stand out from the stem so it has a bushy look.

Anomodon viticulosus closer

However, when it’s dry, it looks completely different. The shoots shrivel up and look stringy.

Anomodon viticulosus dry2

The Guide say it’s “remarkable for its pronounced hydroscopic qualities” and certainly, this moss revives remarkably quickly when water is added.

Anomodon viticulosus revived 1 min

The leaves have a nerve which ends just below the blunt tip.

Often this seems to have a little wiggle near the top.

It’s a distinctive, handsome moss which I’d love to find elsewhere – I’ll keep looking.

Pictures taken November 2021 and April 2022, Craighall Den, Ceres.

Posted in Hypnales, Tree trunk (living), Uncategorized, Woods | Leave a comment

Pogonatum aloides

Posted on February 28, 2022 by wildfife

Aloe Haircap

This little moss was growing on a damp, shady bank, looking at first sight like a small version of Atrichum undulatum (which was also growing there).

The individual plants grow out of the green scummy looking stuff spread across the bare earth of the bank – this is the “persistent protonema” produced from the moss spores. No tight cushions for this moss as the young plants are well separated.

The first time I saw the moss, there were round structures in the centre of the plants. These are the male sexual structures.

Going back in January, I found some young capsules, with softly hairy calyptra.

Not a great picture of the capsules, but you can see why the moss is a haircap. The Atrichum undulatum on the right looks like its big brother, but Pogonatum aloides doesn’t have the wavy leaves, and has a stiffer appearance.

After waiting patiently until the end of February, I was rewarded with the mature capsules – white cylinders with a red rim and a flat “drum top”, in the bottom left of this picture.