365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, April 15, 2018
Dabbling In Bryos
Day 184: Lichenology and bryology go pretty much hand in hand, although I've avoided bryophytes as being way too complicated. Still, there are a few mosses I know and love, and a lot of bryos have enchanting multi-syllabic scientific names. Anyone who knows me as more than a passing acquaintance knows my love of words; it was only a matter of time before I fell to temptation. I was given a firm push at the lichenologists' conference when I discovered Bruce McCune had written a field guide to the Pacific Northwest's more common mosses, and of course I find field guides absolutely irresistible. I figured I'd start with something which looked easy (at least I hoped it would be as easy as it looked!). I was pretty sure my fence moss conformed to Dicranoweisia cirrata (ooooh, that's a good one), but the deal was clinched when I stuck a leaf under the dark-field microscope and it looked just exactly like the picture in Bruce's book. Well, that was fun! What's next?
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