22 January 2012

From The Evergreen State College to 254th St. E., Graham, Washington. Pierce County. GPS: 47.0201,-122.23586. Approximately a half mile north of Rocky Ridge Elementary School. Take Mountain Highway to 260th Ave. E and turn right. Left on 54th Ave. E. and left on 254th. It has been very cold outside for several days and has snowed all week. There was still some snow on the ground as I was collecting. I was collecting in my parent's front yard. The yard is predominately flat with short grass. There is moss growing all through out the grass but I collected off of landscape rockery surrounding a very healthy Japanese Maple tree. This is a planned garden of small ground cover plants and rockery. The ground cover consists of Sedum, Thyme, Rosemary, and various other ornamental plants. I collected a small moss that was very soft to the touch. It felt spongy and soft as if it would be best suited as an insert for soles inside of a shoe. It was dark green and had some very small sporophytes growing out of it. I believe its is going to be in the Bryum genera. I also collected two different mosses that looked very similar in morphology and growth form but could be two different species in the Rhytidiadelphus or Aulacomnium genera. I also collected a very small blue-green moss with white tips on the moss. The specimen was too small to photograph but very beautiful. It could belong to the Bryum genus but I am unsure at this time. I'm left wondering why there were so many different species of moss growing on these rocks? The garden was designed to be aesthetically pleasing and not to promote too much plant growth. My parents wanted a low maintenance yard and so created a rock garden with river rock as the base. There are no weeds and only a few strategically planned vascular plants are surviving. It makes me wonder if the lack of competition for substrate helps to promote moss growth? Moss could also like the garden because it is untouched by humans or anything else most of the year. It is a very undisturbed area. I also wonder if the type of rock has anything to do with they types of mosses that like to grow there?

Publicado el 26 de enero de 2012 por dkennedy