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Anyone good with mosses etc?

mr. luke

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Joined
7 Dec 2008
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Location
Lincoln
Does anyone have the knowledge and facilities to identify native mosses and liverworts?
Ive got into the odd hobby of traveling huge dstances and collecting natives.
Im amazed at the quantity that do well submerged! Some are very interesting and notably different to what we already have in the hobby.
I know triangle, stringy and willow moss all grows in our country and i have collected these plus many others.
In particular i have a liverwort and another thati have absolubtly no clue on that id like identifying.
 
Subscribed... Lately I got the same odd hobby but with terrestrial ones that I keep in containers or add to nano vivaria... Sounds weird I know :)
I guess you will have good guides in UK. In Spain the diversity is huge and more difficult to find reliable guides. Moreover some of them are difficult to identify without some basic equipment

Jordi
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grasses-F...1280655435?pt=Non_Fiction&hash=item1e90efd44b
mMNJFTwWTp7Yfhdkh4P6tHQ.jpg
 
Thanks for that, just bought one from amazon :)
Just been looking into the legislation and as long as the plants are not protected and i have land owners consent its all good :)
Also seen that 'milimeter moss' is a protected plant in the uk, this is passed around in our hobby and it is an offence to do so :eek:
 
I have semi identified a couple
Scapania sp.
Plagomnium (undulatum?)
Platyhypnidium riparoides (im suprised this isnt popular in out hobby already as it grows perfectly submerged in nature, i found it in a blackwater stream.)

This is the best i could come up with based on apearence and collection conditions.
 
Hi all,
Does anyone have the knowledge and facilities to identify native mosses and liverworts?
You are in luck, there is a really good field guide to British Bryophytes for £25. <"Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: A Field Guide">.

You can get a preview via the publisher <"BBS">. This is the page for <Calliergonella cuspidata>. The images in the book itself are very high quality.

The other thing you really need is a low powered binocular microscope.

cheers Darrel
 
Will post some up tommorrow :)
Aparantly im not allowed to put pictures of moss on the internet on our only day off together :p

Thanks Darrel.
Would a sub £150 microscope be up to the challenge? I know that a more expensive model will be better but i cant spend £1000 on one
 
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Have you thought about trying them underwater? :)
Yes, a few of them. As I live in a lowland Mediterranean area (lately nearly subtropical) water temperature in rivers are sometimes very close to our tanks, thus moss species potentially adapted to them. I tried at least 3 species, 2 did well and the other one grew like crazy but was not especially beautiful, very leggy (if a moss can be leggy... Let's say, elongated).
To be honest, the moss from the hobby I've tried look better, but of course it is a matter of looking for suitable species, selecting proper specimens and find out the best growing conditions. I think local aquatic moss can be very interesting for wabi kusa and kokedama setups, they will be probably adapted to your tap water and to your local climate.

For the moment I've been much more successful growing terrestrial ones, which grow nicely in containers or in different vivarium setups. They only need quite a lot of light, good aeration and RO water mist once every 3-4 days.

Jordi
 
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