Moss Characteristics

• Mosses are epiphytic plants that photosynthesize to produce plant carbohydrates from the sun's energy. The plants are non-vascular and do not produce roots like most plants as a pathway for water and food distribution. There are both male and female mosses and they reproduce with spores rather than seeds. The spores require water to germinate. Most mosses grow on hardwood trees either horizontally or vertically. They may be found in the highest branches or on the forest floor clinging to logs with rhizoids, specialized filaments that anchor the plant to its chosen surface.
  
  

Moss Family

• There are hundreds of types of moss and each species has a selected environment. One type may grow in Ohio but fail to thrive in Florida. Some types, such as sphagnum moss, are found in a wide range. Mosses and their close cousins, liverworts, form a family called bryophytes. The word stems from the Greek "bryon" which means moss and "phyton" meaning plant. Bryophytes are thought to be the first land plants that evolved from algae.
  
  

Clumping Mosses

• Clumping mosses are very recognizable and are the type usually found on your roof shingles. They form small mounds of stems and leaves in little slow growing mounds. Pin cushion and mounded velvet are two very common forms of the clumping mosses. They are victims of the horticultural industries demand for moss to pack bulbs and to use in displays. Entire trees have been scraped clean of the moss in the wild. Moss is slow to spread and it can take decades to return to its former lush green splendor.
  
  

Erect Mosses

• The erect mosses are characterized by small upright groups of leaves. The moss doesn't branch and the fruiting bodies are on the terminal ends of the leaves. Brook, distichium, fire and cat's tail moss are all erect mosses of varying habits. Mosses are important links in the environmental ecology of the forest canopy. They provide food and habitat and assist in air purification. Peat moss is an important erect moss that grows on layers of ancient organic matter creating floating peat bogs which are harvested for fuel and other uses.