Marvelous Moss

“ You look maaahhhhvelous , dahhhling”. If I were prone to talking to plants, I could have easily said that to the moss along the banks of the brook today. Marvelous, wildly green and fresh looking, a soft cushion on which a squirrel has understandably chosen to dine.

I have been noticing the moss a lot lately, and two questions jump to mind.
1) Why IS it so intensely green after rain or snow melt? 2) I have noticed several clumps have begun to send up the stalks that will hold the spores of the next generation. Why are some growing their stalks now and not others? Now, you in the audience with Botany degrees know the answer already, but remember I am of the self taught naturalist variety, no Botany degrees adorn my walls, but I do have a degree of curiosity, so I did some research and this is what I found.

I found that mosses are incredibly complex, for the simple plant that they are. They are non-vascular plants, meaning they don’t have a system of pumping water up from their roots to leaves, as in the higher plants. They have to rely on living in a damp places so they can absorb water readily. Now we probably all knew that, but what I didn’t know, was, that when it is dry, they curl their “leaves” tightly to keep from loosing moisture, and unfurl them again when rain comes, so, it is no illusion that they look more lush after rain. And those leaves are only a few cells thick, so loosing water from desiccation is problematic.

And the stalks, called “seta”, that are beginning to rise from some of the moss I see, will eventually hold the capsule that will hold the spores, but, here is the cool thing I learned. They don’t all do this at once; an individual mat of moss may have some reproducing and others not. And it takes from 4-6 months for those spores to develop. A-ha! So, what I see now in March, the first threads heading skyward, won’t have their cute little caps on, probably until May or June and won’t “blow their caps”, a sign the spores are mature probably until July. Which is exactly what I have experienced.

In the summer it is cool to pick one of these and look at it with a hand lens or squish the bright green spores out onto your finger. Didn’t I tell you, if you like nature you can be easily and cheaply amused! And what’s more, once these caps are mature, and you take a close look at them, you will see each moss has a different shaped cap, it’s one way to identify them, and even more amazing is the structure of this cap. It’s like a little urn, with “teeth” around the top and a top on that. When it is dry the cap pops up a bit and the spores can blow out through the “teeth”. When it is raining, it swells slightly and no one is going anywhere. Why? Because to land, splat, right on your parent, makes a really short adventure. But to blow to the 4 winds, now, you are launched and likely to take hold. You can make any metaphor you want out of that!

Oh dear, there would be so much more to tell you, but I sense you can only take so much. And thank me for not using the proper terms, which can be mind boggling. Botanists obviously like to keep things within their circle by making terms that are unpronounceable and multi-syllabic for the simplest of things! We will just have to save other amazing feats of moss for another day.

But for now, your marching orders are just to begin to notice them, to feel free on rainy days to tell them how “maahhhvelous” they look and thank them for the delight to the soul that vibrant green brings. The Japanese would agree, for they cultivated moss in their gardens for the sense of calm and stillness they bring to the soul. Amen to that!