Mosses from Scotland

[luzula]

At last, I have looked at all the moss specimens I brought home from Scotland! I don't know who will actually be interested in this post besides regshoe, but, well. There were four mosses that were new to me; the first three of them require an oceanic climate and so don't grow in Sweden, but they do grow in western Norway. Links go to photos (not taken by me).

On the Isle of Rum I found Glyphomitrion daviesii, a tiny bryophyte shaped like a cushion and with lovely bell-shaped capsules (where the spores develop), and Pleurozia purpurea, an exotic-looking purple thing which the internet tells me is an example of convergent evolution, since it is actually more related to thalloid liverworts (which have no leaves) and developed into something like a leafy liverwort independently.

Breutelia chrysocoma is a large, lovely bryophyte which looks sort of like a golden furry fox's tail, which I found somewhere along the Corryarrick road, or possibly in Invergarry. In the same place I also found Dicranum leioneuron, which looks pretty much like all the numerous other species in the genus and which also grows, but not commonly, in Sweden.

Not new to me but still cool: in Mallaig I found the green-black Campylopus atrovirens which is very rare in Sweden, and the liverwort Scapania gracilis, which I have seen a few times before.

There were also a lot of mosses that were not new to me and not particularly exciting, among them Frullania dilatata and F. tamarisci, which is irritating because western Scotland also has several cool and exotic Frullania species. But considering how desultory my specimen-gathering was, I am very happy with my finds!

Comments

[regshoe]

Aww, lovely :D I'm glad the Scotland trip gave you an opportunity to find so many good bryophytes, and these are all beautiful. Both on the trip and in these pictures, it's amazing how much diversity in form and ecology there is amongst these tiny little plants. Very cool about convergent evolution of leaf-like structures in liverworts, too!

[luzula]

You have to look at them under magnification to really appreciate them! I don't think I actually had a hand loupe with me to Scotland? Basically, I just grabbed specimens of whatever looked potentially interesting or different to me. And one advantage of mosses is that they are very easily preserved and transported, you can just dry them as they are (best done in a folded bit of paper) and they will keep well.

Strictly speaking, I smuggled these out of Britain, since by the Aichi protocol you need permission to take specimens of native species...

[regshoe]

Hmm, I have a hand lens (although not a microscope)—perhaps I'll try looking at some local mosses sometime.

Smuggling—just like a Jacobite!... I'm glad you got them safely back to Sweden despite any dubious legality. :P

[chestnut_pod]

Please believe me that I am SO interested in your Scottish mosses. Bryophytes are so cool, and I have no idea how to identify them, so it brings me great pleasure to nod along and look at the pretty pictures.

[luzula]

I know what you mean--sometimes it's restful to read about something completely different from what I myself do. Glad you enjoyed! : )

[melannen]

I am interested in mosses!! Thank you for sharing! (I am impressed I was still able to ID a Dicranum after my very limited attempted at learning common IDs last year.)

[luzula]

Glad you enjoyed! : ) I haven't studied mosses actively since I got into my current fannish period, but before that, I spent many hours at the microscope. It does take an investment of time to get good at it.

What does "common ID" mean? I usually only talk about this kind of stuff in Swedish. And congratulations on the Dicranum!

[china_shop]

I don't know anything about mosses, but I enjoyed the descriptions and pictures. \o? :D

[luzula]

Awww, I'm glad to hear that! Thanks. <3

[pallas_rose]

What I want to know is: what do you do with the specimens now? Do you have terrariums for them? How do you preserve mosses? Do you dry them out?

[luzula]

Mosses are very easily preserved: you just put them between two pieces of paper and they will keep well, though after several decades they will inevitably lose much of the green color. Vascular plants are much more work, since they contain more water and you have to press them and change the papers until the water is gone.

I have a herbarium for the specimens I want to keep, where I make notes on the folded paper: species name, date, substrate, biotope, coordinates, name of location, and my name. I'll make sure they end up in one of the national herbariums when I die.

[pallas_rose]

*sighs* that is so cool

[nnozomi]

I don't know anything about mosses, but there was just something very soothing about this post to read. Lots of lovely long unfamiliar words and pretty color imagery and alliteration like "large lovely" and "leafy liverwort" and "furry fox's tail."

[luzula]

Aww, I'm glad to hear that! <3 I wanted to give some sense of my experience and what they looked like.

[scintilla10]

I loved reading your descriptions of the mosses! They look so pretty, too.

[luzula]

Thank you! They are very pretty, up close. : )

[feroxargentea]

My missus asked me to tell you she is v disappointed she didn't get to meet you and persuade you to identify all the local mosses and "plant thingies" up on the moors. She's hoping you'll come back soon and identify things for her :)

[luzula]

Well, I was disappointed not to get to visit, as well! *shakes fist at covid*

I can't promise to come soon, but it would certainly be fun to visit Britain again some other year, and if I do, I'll hold you to your promise to go hiking on the moors. : )