Thursday 13: Mosses

A meme I’m trying out: A list of thirteen things, any topic, any style.

13 mosses — well, 11 mosses and 2 likely impostors — from one walk in the woods today. I don’t know many mosses other than haircap moss (Polytrichum commune), so I’m giving them descriptive epithets.

#1 fluffy, furry moss, context + closefurrymossKHNP8Nov2018furrymosscloseKHNP8Nov2018

#2 expanse of mosses
shadesmossexpanseKHNP8Nov2018

#3 mixed mosses: bipinnate-shaped moss and haircap moss, context + closefernymosshaircapKHNP8Nov2018fernymosshaircapcloseKHNP8Nov2018

#4 moss with sporophytes
furrymosssporesKHNP8Nov2018

#5 a sort of helical geometric nanobristle liverwort called whipwort, Bazzania trilobata, context + closezippermossKHNP8Nov2018zippermosscloseKHNP8Nov2018

#6 thinly applied cypress-needle-cluster moss on a log, context + close thinevergreenmosslogKHNP8Nov2018thinevergreenmosslogcloseKHNP8Nov2018

#7 kale chips lichen
babykalemosswhitegreenKHNP8Nov2018

#8 an island of moss in a sea of pine needles, with moss shore
twomossespineneedlesKHNP8Nov2018

#9 cascading nubby moss on stump
mosscascadingstumpKHNP8Nov2018

#10 mixed mosses: another batch of bipinnate-shaped moss and haircap moss, context + closemixesmossesKHNP8Nov2018mixesmossescloseKHNP8Nov2018

#11 light green disheveled moss, context + closelightgreenmossKHNP8Nov2018lightgreenmosscloseKHNP8Nov2018

#12 moss with flying insect
insectwetmossKHNP8Nov2018

#13 contrasting mosses
mossexpanseKHNP8Nov2018


“I believe they could comfort the world
with their ministries. That is my hope,
even though this world be a jagged rock,
even though this rock be an icy berg of blue
or a mirage of summer misunderstood
(moss balm for misunderstanding),
even though this world be blind and awry
and adrift, scattering souls like spores
through the deep of a starlit sea.”
— from “The Moss Method,” Pattiann Rogers

 

6 comments

  1. Well I certainly learned something. I thought there was just moss and lichens. Never thought about how many different types of moss there might be. Welcome to Thursday 13; hope you come on back next week!

  2. Cool shots & descriptives! A few Thursdays ago I posted 13 algaes (scientific nomenclature only, no photos). All of our mosses, here, will soon be buried in white. Bummer.

  3. The arid climates of most of California are not exactly conducive to moss. Yet, mosses do surprisingly well on the coastal sides of coastal mountain ranges. The San Lorenzo Valley is so green and lush with vegetation, including mosses, that it looks more like Oregon than California.

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