Jeanne has got the bug for collecting mosses. Well she has had the bug for several years. However, it has moved in high gear now. And of course I don’t want to miss out on these adventures too.
Indeed with serious collecting (i.e. for science), note taking is absolutely necessary! In fact everything we collect will go into a herbarium in Texas or Oklahoma.
So how can you not love these balls of green, eh?
A silvery moss with narrow leaves. This particular moss has a hair tip. The center “vein” is called a costa! And sometimes the costa extends beyond the leaf as this one does.
On this moss the capsules have a red seta which is kinda like a stem. Wow, was it ever purty!
These capsules were drooping. Some other mosses’ capsules will stand straight up.
Here was an individual moss with the leaves at the base. Since the seta is coming out the top, it is an acrocarp type moss. A lot time the ID’ing will take place back at home/lab.
So a spider briefly took an interest in us on Jeanne’s collection bag. 😉 However it quickly left for better hunting grounds.
Most of these red capsules had lost their caps! A good website to look at “Morphology of Mosses (Phylum Bryophyta)” can be found here.
Collecting off of a rock. As we put our knife blade under it we noticed the spores flying out. So did you see the spores? Definitely not as puffy as a puffball fungus.
Binoculars are a much used tool for moss collecting. In fact, we use them for any type fauna and flora! So instead of climbing the steep bank first, survey it with your binos!
The more you know, the more you see and the more you see, the more you know
6 Comments
Love the phlox fauna post- so funny. So many insects! Don’t suppose you are going to emulate her process for collecting insects? Looks like a bonanza method.
No I don’t think I will 🤣 my small collection of cats and bugs already is more than enough. But I must admit I thought it was a great idea. So the again you never know…i might. 😂😂
Love the phlox fauna post- so funny. So many insects! Don’t suppose you are going to emulate her process for collecting insects? Looks like a bonanza method.
No I don’t think I will 🤣 my small collection of cats and bugs already is more than enough. But I must admit I thought it was a great idea. So the again you never know…i might. 😂😂
Fun and productive day. Cool horned owl and i believe indigenous peoples here did controlled burns similar to those in Australia.
I have read the same. 🙂
I’m so proud of you both, Mary and Jeanne! Doing such important scientific data collecting!
Thank you 🙂