Interesting Variety of Moss

[Onatah]

I thought these were cute little tree saplings until I was told by someone more 'in the know' that it is actually a type of moss. I love them even more now. I was walking in the woods on our property in hopes of getting some good fall shots and took this one. Sometimes fall beauty can be looking straight down at your feet instead of up in the trees.

These mosses are now something I look for to bring in for my indoor containers. I'm experimenting to see how they do wintering over indoors.

 

[Trellum]

They are really pretty I had no idea there was a variety of moss that could actually grow like that! They look like tiny saplings, bet they will look so pretty in your containers Are you going to place them alone or with some other plant?

 

[amelia88]

They are cute, just hanging out there amidst the fallen leaves! I wouldn't have guessed it was moss either, but I guess you learn something new every day, right?!

You'll have to let us know how it's doing with growth!

 

[Rosyrain]

That really is an interesting variety of moss. I live in Washington, which is like moss central, and I have never come across any variety that looked like that. It almost looks like a baby fern in a way. We get a lot of the carpet looking moss around here, but I am going to keep my eyes out now to see if I can find any that look like the one you took a picture of.

 

[IcyBC]

They looked very different from the common moss that often see around. Very unique and pretty!

 

[Onatah]

I thought it was a hemlock or cedar sapling as we have both of those variety of trees in the woods where they are found.
Here is a photo of the pot I placed it in for the winter. I have two other varieties of moss in the pot with it as well. I put it together before I knew that it was moss, too. Guess it's my mossy pot. haha

You can see it better in this photo. Not the same as in the fall leaves photo but the same type. I dug this one up a few days earlier.

 

[Mockingbird]

Your planting is wonderful... very beautiful. I am very curious to see how this does indoors. I am feeling like this is a type of plant that might need the cold to thrive. It looks similar to some of the plants I have seen in the Nature preserves here in the North. The ones I have seen grow in the silt along areas that become very wet in the spring but tend to dry out in the colder months. It seems they need the shade and humidity.

We had our first frost this weekend. Every year I try in vain, but know what plants I did bring in will probably not last but a few more weeks.

 

[Onatah]

Thank you.
You could be right. The front moss isn't doing so well. It is in my living room. I walked the woods and see it still thriving out there despite having had snow and sleet already. I'm going to experiment with a cooler room in my house for a week near a window. Then place it in an even cooler area, that is not heated (enclosed porch/summer bedroom) and figure out where it's happiest. Or maybe I should dig up more and place one pot in each room.

The moss to the back, which I harvested on a small piece of rotted bark that it is growing on so I didn't disturb the roots at all like that in the front, is doing real well. The sapling looking moss is actually thriving. It's gotten taller!

 

[claudine]

This moss variety is so beautiful!!! I've never seen anything like it here, where I live. Those tiny plants look like miniature trees They're very cute.
I love your mossy pot

 

[Marck]

What a fantastic woodland find.

Actually, the plant in the photo is not a non-vascular, 'true' moss (Division Bryophyta)), but rather a vascular, non-seed plant known as a Clubmoss (Division Lycophyta), somewhat similar but fully distinct from Ferns (Division Pteridophyta).

Specifically, the plant pictured is Tree Ground-pine Clubmoss (Lycopodium dendroideum, alternatively Dendrolycopodium dendroideum), which is native to moist, temperate regions of North America.

I do not recommend harvesting from the wild. The plants will not transplant easily into captivity, and past over-harvesting for Christmas decorations have left these plants somewhat rare. They are also legally protected against harvest in may places.