Moss

Bryum Miniatum Moss

Bryum Miniatum moss is a glossy red-brown colour that is sometimes a rich green colour on the coast. This moss can convert sunlight into sugar by photosynthesis using chlorophyll in its cells. This moss grows all over Vancouver Island. I have seen it at the high tide line and at 1000 meters. Sometimes this moss is green. This is a fascinating moss as it is such a bright red colour up on the bluffs, I always enjoy seeing it. Read More….

Mood Moss

Mood moss grows all over Vancouver Island and is quite lovely to look at. Mood moss-like most other mosses’ is an ancient plant that first appeared around 400 million years ago. It was one of the first pioneering plants to grow on land, today, moss is still one of the first plants to return to disturbed earth. Moss is nonvascular and has no means to carry water throughout the plant. Instead, moss grows where it is moist. Moss needs little or no soil, so it can grow on a rock or on tree bark. Read More….

Plagiothecium Undulatum Moss

Plagiothecium Undulatum moss is also known as wavy-leaved cotton moss, it is a large, mat-forming moss, with pale green shoots that are sparsely branched, the shoots are up to 6 cm long, and up to 6 mm wide. The leaves are up to 3 mm long, and very wavy. It would be hard to confuse it with other species, owing to its large mat form, pale green colour, and distinct wavy leaves. Read More….

Polytrichum Juniperinum Moss

Polytrichum Juniperinum is also known as juniper hair cap moss, it is a medium-sized Polytrichum, that forms over large areas. It pushes up erect shoots that are about 3 to 4 cm tall, with leaves that reach about 1 cm long. The reddish stems are clothed with evenly spaced, light green leaves with un-toothed edges and a distinctive red tip. Read More….

Polytricum Piliferum Moss

Polytrichum Piliferum is also known by the common name bristly hair cap. When hiking the mountain trails on the BC coast, and you catch your first sight of this beautiful moss, you would be forgiven for thinking it was a tiny alpine flower, but this is a moss rather than a flowering plant. The red flower-like structures are splash cups, and they look quite impressive at the end of male plants in the spring, like beautiful, tiny flowers. Read More….

Red Sphagnum Moss

Sphagnum Moss plays is a big player in the formation of a peat bog because it produces acidic compounds, which bacteria can not grow on. This is important because when bacteria is present, it helps things rot. Therefore, as the sphagnum grows on the top, the lower layers die, but without bacteria, they don’t rot. Read More….

Sphagnum Moss

Sphagnum moss grows profusely all over the BC coastal region. This moss accumulation has the ability to store up to 25 times its dried weight in water since both living and dead plants can hold large quantities of water inside their cells, the empty cells help retain water in drier conditions. Read More….

Step Moss

Step moss commonly known as glittering wood moss, stair-step moss, or mountain fern moss, is a moss with a widespread distribution in Northern Hemisphere boreal forests. It is commonly found in Europe, Russia, Alaska, and Canada, where it is often the most abundant moss species. It also grows in the Arctic tundra, and it can be found growing in all the BC coastal regions. Read More….

Moss is an ancient plant that first appeared around 400 million years ago. Moss was one of the first pioneering plants to grow on land, today it is still one of the first plants to return to disturbed earth. Moss is nonvascular and has no means to carry water throughout the plant. Instead, moss grows where it is moist. Moss needs little or no soil, so it can grow on a rock or on tree bark.

Over a very long time, moss can help create new soil by slowly breaking down rock. In addition, moss holds water just like a sponge, so it retains moisture that can be used by other plants. A bed of moss is a miniature ecosystem within the forest. A carpet of moss is a habitat for many other types of plants, as well as insects, amphibians, and even small mammals like mice, shrews, or voles.

Worldwide there are more than 10,000 species of moss. Mosses are the most common plant found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions and live almost everywhere, except in very dry conditions. Moss has the ability to absorb vast amounts of water and as such, moss can help prevent flooding and also acts as a filter straining out pollutants and heavy metals. In Medieval Europe, moss served as an antiseptic packing for wounds. Many cultures used moss to keep babies’ bottoms dry and comfortable. First people boiled moss and used it as a light green dye.

Moss helped keep settlers warm. They stuffed moss and mud in the spaces between the logs of their log cabins to keep out the wind and rain. First People mixed moss with the deer’s brains and rubbed it into the deer hide to make soft tanned leather for clothes and shoes.

A message from Bud

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