Mosses and ferns

Close photograph of a bright green liverwort bryophyte, Crescent-cup Liverwort (Lunularia cruciata), growing in a small patch on damp bare soil beside a woodland path. The plant forms flat rounded plates called a thallus rather than stems and leaves. Several of these plates overlap on the soil surface. On top of it sit distinctive crescent-shaped cups (gemma cups) with raised rims. Inside the cups are clusters of tiny green discs called gemmae, these are small clones of the parent plant. When rain falls into the cups it splashes the gemmae out onto nearby soil where they grow into new plants. The thallus surface appears smooth and slightly glossy, with a faint speckled pattern from tiny air pores. The liverwort grows among small moss shoots and damp soil particles on the shaded woodland floor.

Crescent-cup Liverwort (Lunularia cruciata) was vibrant in the woods yesterday.

The crescent cups with their raised rims hold tiny plant clones called gemmae. Rain splashes them onto the soil where they grow into new plants.

tinyurl.com/mr3f8e93

#bryophyte #liverwort

plump green branching moss fronds in the genus Entodon

a clump of spiky star-like green moss in the genus Orthotrichum

Branching feathery green moss fronds in the genus Brachythecium

bristly red-and-green moss fronds in the genus Platygyrium

It's moss season. :3

Thanks!

Close photographs of the moss Rhizomnium punctatum (dotted thyme-moss) growing on a damp woodland stream bank. The bryophyte forms loose mats of upright shoots that at this stage are about 2–3 cm tall. Very young shoots look rounded from above, like tiny green bubbles. As the plants mature the shoots open out and some develop terminal rosettes of leaves that resemble small green flowers. The leaves are broad and rounded, at first shaped like tiny green spoons, (later opening out to a more flattened shape). They are smooth-edged and glossy when wet, and droplets of water sit in these tiny basins that briefly hold water after rain, helping maintain humidity around the shoot. Some rosette shoots show a reddish midrib. Several slender reddish stalks (setae) rise above the moss, each carrying an elongated oval capsule where spores are produced. The capsules have lost their beaked lids, and the rim shows two rings of tiny teeth that help release spores. Under the microscope the leaves appear round to elliptical with smooth margins and no teeth. The leaf edge has a distinct border made of two to three rows of different cells, forming a pale margin that makes the edge look slightly thickened. A central nerve (costa) runs up the leaf but stops just below the tip. #moss #bryophyte

Close photographs of the moss Rhizomnium punctatum (dotted thyme-moss) growing on a damp woodland stream bank. The bryophyte forms loose mats of upright shoots that at this stage are about 2–3 cm tall. Very young shoots look rounded from above, like tiny green bubbles. As the plants mature the shoots open out and some develop terminal rosettes of leaves that resemble small green flowers. The leaves are broad and rounded, at first shaped like tiny green spoons, (later opening out to a more flattened shape). They are smooth-edged and glossy when wet, and droplets of water sit in these tiny basins that briefly hold water after rain, helping maintain humidity around the shoot. Some rosette shoots show a reddish midrib. Several slender reddish stalks (setae) rise above the moss, each carrying an elongated oval capsule where spores are produced. The capsules have lost their beaked lids, and the rim shows two rings of tiny teeth that help release spores. Under the microscope the leaves appear round to elliptical with smooth margins and no teeth. The leaf edge has a distinct border made of two to three rows of different cells, forming a pale margin that makes the edge look slightly thickened. A central nerve (costa) runs up the leaf but stops just below the tip. #moss #bryophyte

I think this is Dotted thyme-moss (Rhizomnium punctatum), forming loose mats on the damp bank of a woodland stream in Devon.

tinyurl.com/mukztztv

I am a beginner but I think they are :-)

Schistochilopsis incisa (Scapaniaceae) growing on a rotting log in N Wales. This liverwort has been reported from every continent except Australasia and Antarctica, but it is polyphyletic, so probably includes multiple undescribed species with smaller ranges. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

For the price of a pair of binoculars, a whole new world www.flickr.com/photos/clado...

Small bright green Polypodium glycyrrhiza fern leaves grow upside down in a bright olive green moss bed on a big leaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) branch. You can see a profusion of mossy and lichenous tree branches in the background. This was photographed from a foot bridge over a ravine, looking straight into the crowns of the trees growing in the ravine floor.

An array of green mosses and lichen in various shades of blue to blue-green cover an apple tree branch crotch. There are flat growing shield lichen, a few branching lichens, both sturdy looking and lacy, and prickly looking moss branches. It is a medley of textures. Apple trees seem to have the best lichens and mosses.

Trouvailles: Licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza) on a big leaf maple(Acer macrophyllum) ; a lichen and moss bonanza.
#Photography #SeattleWashington #SeattleRainySeason #SeattleSpring #Ferns #LichenSubscribe #Lichen #NativePlants #NativePlantsOfThePNW

Meanwhile, down by the #weedypond the Robin is also gathering moss - what a wonderful building material this is.
Here we see that whilst a rolling stone can gather no moss,
a Robin gathering moss cannot take a drink...
#Robins #Nature #UKWildlife
@alan678.bsky.social @brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social

A group of mosses on a stone wall. Green fields are in the background.

Grimmia mosses on a stone wall.

#nature #moss

Sphagnum medium on Cors Fochno

Sphagnum austinii on Cors Fochno

A peat bund holding water on Cors Fochno

Saw some familiar friends (people & mosses) during my first week with @peatlandcymru.bsky.social as part of the NPAP survey team. Been a long time since I’ve been back to Cors Fochno and it was great to see the parts of the peatland I did my MSc on years ago still with Sphagnum austinii hummocks

Close-up of Pixie Cup lichen (Cladonia species) growing in a patch of moss on a woodland bank. Thin upright stalks rise from a leafy green base and end in small cup-shaped tips. The cups look like tiny goblets or trumpets standing above a miniature moss forest.

Had a different glimpse ot the minature forest when I saw this PIxie Cup (Cladonia species) while Iooking for liverworts..

Wooden stepped ladder leading up to a pedestrian gate in a dry stone wall. Either side of the ladder is green bracken. On other side of the gate is more bracken and low grassy hill in sunlight.

Frondy stilin' above Troutbeck.

Just a little #liverwort island in a creek :)

Three dimensional!

Thrush soprano

Ancient woodland. No dinosaurs though.

I will too.

I gardened for years without really noticing liverworts, saw them as a weed, then looked closer. Now I look for them.

Devon U.K.

Citrus, some describe it as like turpentine but for me it was citrus.

It was too beautiful a moment to spoil. Plus I looked up and saw a new fungi that I have not seen before…

It is still there.

Good places to be

Close-up of Great Scented Liverwort (Conocephalum conicum), a liverwort bryophyte, growing on damp soil beside a woodland brook. Bright green flat lobed thalli spread across the bank, each surface marked with a striking mosaic of small polygon patterns. This liverwort releases a citrus scent when gently rubbed.

I was delighted to see this today, I think it is Great Scented Liverwort "Conocephalum conicum" growing on the bank of the brook in a Devon woodland.

tinyurl.com/2rusmr8p

#liverwort

Sunlit woodland bank covered in bright green moss (a bryophyte). Fox-tail Feather-moss (Thamnobryum alopecurum) forms lush draping growth over a sloping bank at the base of a tree, the shoots rising and branching like tiny green trees or soft fox-tail plumes. Nearby a Hart’s-tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium) grows with long strap-shaped fronds. Winter sunlight filters through bare woodland branches in the background.

The woods were so beautiful today...

Close-up woodland floor scene among moss (a bryophyte). A pale lace-like skeletonised leaf lies across a dark decaying leaf, the fine network of veins still intact while the softer leaf tissue has disappeared. Bright green feathery moss surrounds it, with a small woodland seedling and a catkin nearby.

I saw this while looking at moss today...

"Oxymitra incrassata, a thallose liverwort, seen today in the same place where I found it about 20 years ago, near Begur. #liverworts #bryophytes"

Sphagnum austinii with green and red S. rubellum #moss #bryophyte

Perhaps it is a liverwort - Floating Crystalwort (Riccia fluitans)?

tinyurl.com/45xy39tc