Friday, March 13, 2009

I Heart Bryophytes

I was looking at some old photos today and I came across some shots that I took while I was up in Alaska a couple of years ago. I went for a hike in this amazing coastal rain forest. The cedar trees were enormous and the plant life was wonderfully diverse. The fecundity of this magical place was evident by the rich, spoungy, bryophytes that carpeted the rocks and trees and forest floor.Bryophyte is a fancy high falutin' scientific name for mosses and liverworts. I think it's just about my favorite type of plant life, although I am rather fond of lichens as well. A lichen is a cross between a fungus and a green algae and it often grows on trees and rocks. Mosses look much more plant-like than lichens and if you look up close you can see that mosses have tiny stems and leaves. I didn't take this picture of the gorgeous red moss, but maybe this year I'll be able to take a similar one with my fancy new camera and the macro lens that the birthday lizard will hopefully be bringing me this year. Does the birthday lizard visit your house? In my family the birthday lizard always delivers wonderful gifts to all who are worthy. The birthday lizard is kind of like a cross between Santa and the Easter Bunny, but in reptilian form.There's something magical about mosses. I feel like if I look close enough I'll be able to see an entire world that lives within the the soft, spoungy landscape. I'm sure there are tiny fairies living in the moss land. I haven't actually seen them, but I'll bet they are there. I mean, if you were a fairy, wouldn't you want to live in the moss, in a coastal rain forest with enormous cedar trees?

1 comment:

Carmelita said...

Silly girl! Mossmen live in the moss. They are very funny little creatures in varying shades of green. They pride themselves on their unusual head gear made from findings in the moss. I suppose there are mossladies and childlets, too. We need to look in to this. Hugs and stuff, Carmelita