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Found some wild moss
Hey everybody,
I went collecting river rocks for my latest project this past weekend and
found some moss growing on one of the rocks I brought home. There's only
about a pinch of it and most of it was looking rough by the time I
discovered it, but there is enough healthy growth left that I can try and
give an eyeball description of it (man, I gotta get a microscope). I'll
throw in any info that could be useful or possibly interesting.
It's growth form is similar to the Christmas moss that Kwek Leong sent but
smaller in scale. It has a central stem with smaller stems growing from it
in pairs (opposed) at regular 1-2mm intervals and the leaves on the stems
are small like (my) Java moss and appear pointed like an
arrowhead. Superficially, an individual stem looks somewhat like a
miniature version of E.densa with very, very short internodes. The moss
has an attractive, vibrant green coloring (where it's healthy) again
similar to the Christmas moss. I found it in Tellico River which is
located in the Cherokee National Forest near the TN/NC border in the
Southeast US. The river temp was about 60-65F by my guesstimation and the
moss must've been growing submersed since all of the rocks I gathered came
from water that was 10-12" deep or more and in the main path of the river
rather than the shallows near a bank or in a drainage channel which only
gets substantial flow intermittently (i.e. when it rains). The water flow
in the "collection" areas was moderate to heavy and these areas get intense
sun during the midday hours and are lit indirectly during the early morning
and late afternoon hours as the river is surrounded by very steep, tall ridges.
So, does anyone have a suggestion on what kind of moss I may have found? I
just don't know enough to make a decent guess, though I'm looking through
the APD archives and elsewhere trying to glean what I can. If time and
weather permit, I'm going back to Tellico this coming weekend or the next
to try and find some more of this moss (hopefully a substantial amount this
time), so I can try to send some to anybody who would like to take a
*serious* stab at ID-ing it. I'm gonna try to cultivate it regardless, but
I'd like to have an idea of what I've got here. I'm hoping it's nothing
too common in the hobby..."Chuck's moss" has a nice ring to it ;)
Moss-ridden regards,
Chuck
Chuck Huffine
Knoxville, Tennessee USA
mailto:grendel at usit_net