Mossy Green

Deep in the Hiawatha National Forest there is the green of moss that covers the giant boulders or "magic rocks" as we sometimes call them.  It isn't the green of leaves or lichen or stems or any other green I can imagine.  It is the green of moss.

Although moss and lichens are both called non-vascular plants, only mosses are plants. Mosses are included in a group of non-vascular plants called bryophytes. Mosses are believed to be the ancestors of the plants we see today, like trees, flowers, and ferns. Lichens, on the other hand, are not similar in anyway to mosses or other members of the plant kingdom.   Although mosses are very primitive, they still have plant-like structures that look like and function like leaves, stems and roots. They have chloroplasts throughout their entire bodies and can photosynthesize from all sides of their structures. (via the US Forest Service)

Carpet of moss....bed of moss....mossy banks. It is the wonderful rich smell of the earth.  It is the GREEN that takes your breath away. 

Moss-Gathering, by Theodore Roethke

To loosen with all ten fingers held wide and limber
And lift up a patch, dark-green, the kind for lining cemetery baskets,
Thick and cushiony, like an old-fashioned doormat,
The crumbling small hollow sticks on the underside mixed with roots,
And wintergreen berries and leaves still stuck to the top, --
That was moss-gathering.
But something always went out of me when I dug loose those carpets
Of green, or plunged to my elbows in the spongy yellowish moss of the marshes:
And afterwards I always felt mean, jogging back over the logging road,
As if I had broken the natural order of things in that swampland;
Disturbed some rhythm, old and of vast importance,
By pulling off flesh from the living planet;
As if I had commited, against the whole scheme of life, a desecration.

Looking around on the internet I find all kinds of resources to help in this sudden rush of moss research.   Moss Plants and More  is an interesting blog being kept by JM Budke who writes; I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis. My research focuses on moss plants.  This blog lists several other interesting sources including the IAB blog (International Association of Bryologists). The latest entry brings me right back to where I am - in the Upper Peninsula

June 18, 2013—

The International Association of Bryologists has awarded its Hattori Prize to Janice Glime, professor emerita of biological sciences at Michigan Technological University, for her online encyclopedia, “Bryophyte Ecology.”
The Hattori Prize recognizes the best paper or series of papers published by a member of the association within the previous two years.  Glime has completed two volumes on this group of diminutive plants that includes mosses, liverworts and hornworts:  “Physiological Ecology” and “Bryological Interaction.” A portion of the third (“Methods”) is available online, and she has at least two more volumes pending.
“Bryophyte Ecology” is read worldwide both as a text and reference. While scientifically rigorous, it is written in a conversational style. “I hope to make bryology more accessible to students who have no mentor in the field and to stimulate interest among ecologists, naturalists and educators,” Glime said. “A book such as this is dependent on scientists in many fields, all over the world.”

 And I also want to mention Moss Musings, just because it is such a kicky sounding name.  Written by certified moss freak Nancy W. Church, there hasn't been a post since last year (where are you Nancy??).  It does include an entry about moss myths though -

Moss Myths

I regret having to break it to those who are navigationally challenged, but moss does not grow only on the north side of a tree.  It is found there predominantly because that side is generally more shady (in the northern hemisphere, that is).

And, despite having names that include the word “moss,” plants such as Spanish Moss — an epiphyte, Reindeer Moss — a lichen, Club Moss — a lycophyte (seedless, vascular plant), Irish Moss — a perennial, and Sea Moss — an algae, are not mosses at all. Mildew, unlike moss, is parasitic and requires a host.

 Written on a cloudy afternoon at the St. Ignace Library.

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis. My research focuses on mosses. - See more at: http://mossplants.fieldofscience.com/#sthash.i7urvsH8.dpuf

I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, Davis. My research focuses on mosses. - See more at: http://mossplants.fieldofscience.com/#sthash.i7urvsH8.dpuf