Facts about Moss

Such aquatic or semi-aquatic mosses can greatly exceed the normal range of lengths seen in terrestrial mosses.

Moss is considered a weed in grass lawns, but is deliberately encouraged to grow under aesthetic principles exemplified by Japanese gardening.

The tallest land moss, a member of the Polytrichidae, is probably Dawsonia superba, a native to New Zealand and other parts of Australasia.

The Sphagnopsida, the peat mosses, comprise the two living genera Ambuchanania and Sphagnum, as well as fossil taxa.

Surfaces can also be prepared with acidic substances, including buttermilk, yogurt, urine, and gently purйed mixtures of moss samples, water and ericaceous compost.

The uses for intact moss are principally in the florist trade and for home decoration.

The whole mossery would then be regularly moistened to maintain growth.

Peat is a dark, fibrous accumulation of partially decomposed and disintegrated organic matter found in wet areas, usually comprising residues of plants such as mosses.

The sperm of mosses is biflagellate, in other words, they have two flagellae that aid in propulsion.

Small, soft plants, mosses typically are one to ten centimeters (0.4-4 inches) tall, though some species are much larger.

Some mosses can survive desiccation, returning to life within a few hours of rehydration.

From the tips of stems or branches develop the sex organs of the mosses.

The overall physical similarity of some mosses and leafy liverworts means that confirmation of the identification of some groups can be performed with certainty only with the aid of microscopy or an experienced bryologist.

The Bryopsida are the most diverse group; over ninety-five percent of moss species belong to this class.

Unambiguous moss fossils have been recovered from as early as the Permian of Antarctica and Russia, and a case is put forwards for Carboniferous mosses (Thomas 1972).

Mosses are found chiefly in areas of dampness and low light.

Heavy traffic or manually disturbing the moss bed with a rake will also inhibit moss growth.

Mosses comprise a division of bryophyte plants, which are non-vascular land plants (embryophytes), meaning that they lack water- and food-conducting strands in their roots (xylem and phloem), or that they are poorly developed.

Mosses (and other bryophytes) have only a single set of chromosomes (haploid—in other words, each chromosome exists in a unique copy within the cell).

Samples of moss were installed in the cracks between wood slats.

Together, they are still labeled bryophytes because of their similarity as non-vascular, land plants, but the Division Bryophyta now typically refers only to the mosses.

At certain times mosses produce spore capsules that may appear as beak-like capsules borne aloft on thin stalks.

The life of a moss starts from a haploid spore, which germinates to produce a protonema, which is either a mass of filaments or thalloid (flat and thallus-like).

Mosses can be either dioicous (compare dioecious in seed plants) or monoicous (compare monoecious).

Moss collections are quite often begun using samples transplanted from the wild in a water-retaining bag.

In World War II, Sphagnum mosses were used as first-aid dressings on soldiers' wounds, as these mosses are highly absorbent and have mild antibacterial properties.

Like the vascular plants, bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, and hornworts) do have differentiated stems, and although these are generally only a few millimeters tall, they do provide mechanical support.

Originally these three groups were placed together as three separate classes or phyla within the division Bryophyta, with mosses comprising the taxon Musci.

Moss is thought to add a sense of calm, age, and stillness to a garden scene.

Decaying moss in the genus Sphagnum is also the major component of peat.

Mosses are also found in cracks between paving stones in damp city streets.

Peat formed from decayed, compacted Sphagnum moss may sometimes be labeled as sphagnum peat; however, peat can form from a wide variety of plants, as well as include partially decayed organic matter of animals.

Mosses are one of three main groups of bryophytes, the others being liverworts (division Marchantiophyta) and hornworts (division Anthocerotophyta).

Aside from this character, the unique branching, thallose (flat and expanded) protonema, and explosively rupturing sporangium place it apart from other mosses.

Sphagnum moss, generally the species cristatum and subnitens, is harvested while still growing and is dried out to be used in nurseries and horticulture as a plant growing medium.

Mosses provide important ecological functions, including soil formation, erosion prevention, release of nutrients from substrates, and providing food for some animals, such as insects.

Most mosses have capsules that open at the top.

The application of products containing ferrous sulfate or ferrous ammonium sulfate will kill moss; these ingredients are typically in commercial moss control products and fertilizers.

The fossil record of moss is sparse, due to their soft-walled and fragile nature.

Killing moss will not prevent regrowth unless conditions favorable to their growth are changed (Whitcher 1996).

Growing moss from spores is even less controlled.

Mosses can most reliably be distinguished from the apparently similar liverworts because the mosses have multi-cellular rhizoids, while the liverworts have single-celled rhizoids (Nehira 1983).