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Re: Capsules
Kwek Leong wrote:
"Thanks for pointing out that it's a capsule and not a spore.
The capsules appear on the mosses too when they are grown submerged but not
as much as when the moss is grown emmersed."
Actually, the spores are inside of the capsule. Mosses have a really
complicated life cycle (seems complicated to me anyway) with several
different "stages". The capsule and what is inside of it is one of those
"stages". In many mosses the capsules are very tiny and very easy to
overlook in other species they are relatively prominent and can't be missed.
In my search for any information on "Christmas Moss" I've looked at many
"original descriptions" of mosses from many parts of the world and it is
quite common to see comments about the lack of those structures. Probably,
the moss sample which the description was based upon was just not at that
particular stage in its life cycle for the capsules to be present.
I am trying right now to get both regular Java Moss and a sample of the
Christmas Moss to grow emersed in a high humidity environment. Hopefully, I
can get both to grow to the point where they develop the "capsules". I'll
then ship off samples of both to a Bryologist in the hope that they can be
identified. We know that Java Moss is supposed to be a "known species" but
we have also seen that many times within the trade the reported name and the
actual one are different.
And a note to everyone else - I'm still looking for small live samples of
_any_ different mosses that are grown within your tanks. If you have a moss
that has a different growth pattern or might be an unknown species, semd me
a small sample and let me try to get it identified. This might be an
opportunity to get a better idea of just how many different types of moss we
actually have access to. (as long as the Bryologist is willing to ID all of
them....).
Thanks for the reminder regarding your name. I _always_ get that confused
;-).
James Purchase
Toronto