Talk:Moss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moss is either included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards, and if possible stick to GFDL and GFDL-compatible images.

1 On the north side?
2 Start it simpler
3 Dioicous vs Dioecious
4 Image name is misleading
5 moss uses

[edit] On the north side?

Is it true that moss only grows on the north side of something, or is this a myth? It sounds false, because I can't think of a single aspect of nature that makes north special.

Bear in mind that I know nothing about mosses, but certainly in the northern hemisphere the north side of anything will get less light, and it does say in the article that mosses prefer low light situations. Maccoinnich 17:16, Mar 12, 2005 (UTC)

Indeed, in northern latitudes the north side of trees generally will have more moss on average than other sides. South of the equator the reverse is true. No Account

But why is this so? Have there been any studies on this? PeepP 13:48, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

The evidence points to this being a reproductive issue. The gametophyte generation in mosses, liverworts and ferns all require the presence of liquid water to allow the motile male gametes to reach the female gametes. In the absence of water no reproduction takes place. Hence the characteristic feature of most thriving communities of mosses, liverworts and ferns is that they live in wet or damp locations. The sunny sides of trees fail this test. There are of course always exceptions and some mosses are able to live in apparently very dry places but in all cases, careful study will reveal the presence of water at critical periods of the year. Velela 14:31, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Please add this information to the article. PeepP 17:26, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

So I came to this article looking for more information on this because I was outside at work, and looked in the courtyard where there are several large stones. I noticed that moss was growing only on the north-side surfaces of these stones. The Courtyard is enclosed in all fours by tall buildings, so I don't think sunlight exposure is at work here. If you guys find more information regarding this please post. Taco325i 16:26, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

There are lots of possible reasons, including (1) people tend to sit preferentially on one side of the rocks, preventing moss from growing, (2) the rocks had moss on them when they were placed there and the moss was placed in that direction, (3) water tends to run down that side of the north side because of the slant of the rocks, and half a dozen other possibilities I could mention besides. Note that just because the buildings are tall doesn't mean that during important times of day or important times of the year that the sun doesn't preferentially hit the south side of the rocks. And of course, there's always the possibility that it's pure chance in this case. --EncycloPetey 02:44, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

I just happened to read the right section of the book "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. At the bottom of p. 427 you can find some info about that. According to him this applies to lichens and not mosses. --Emil Petkov 12:32, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Whatever Mr Bryson has to say, the evidence is all around, certainly here in the wetter parts of northern Europe. Lichens, mosses and terrestrial coccoid green algae all visibly favour the northern sides of tree trunks. It doesn't require great science to demonstrate it, a walk in the woods is all that is required. Mt Bryson is amusing and erudite but I don't believe has made any claims to be a scientist, great or otherwise. I suggest that enjoying his text as amusing fiction but relying on competent observation and scientific method to determine the verifiable truths in biology may be the optimum balance. Velela 21:29, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Start it simpler

Um -- could we start a little simpler? This article doesn't really answer "What is moss?" unless you know an awful lot of botany to start with. (And the story about moss being on the north side of trees is said to have helped to make many people even more lost!) Oak 17:24, 04 November 2005

I agree that this article doesn't do a good job in the introduction of clarifying what a moss is for the non-specialist. Part of the problem is that in casual English, the word moss means "green scummy thing on a rock or tree". Many times, the word is applied to a liverwort, alga, or even to some bromeliads (Spanish "moss", a flowering plant) indiscriminately. To distinguish true moss (the subject of this article) from those other plants requires a level of technical description that can be very hard to bring down to the level or the casual reader. The required terminology just doesn't have an equivalent in casual speech. -- EncycloPetey 14:13, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dioicous vs Dioecious

While dioecious is the correct spelling of that word (in both Commonwealth and American English), it is not the correct spelling for the word dioicous, which is another word entirely. In botany, a plant that is dioecious is a diploid sporophyte that produces either microsporangia or megasporangia, but not both on the same plant. A plant that is dioicous is a haploid gametophyte that produces either antheridia or archegonia, but not both on the same plant. So while seed plants may be either monecious or dioecious, they are all dioicous. Bryophytes produce only a single kind of sporangium, and so cannot be truly described as either monecious or dioecious. There are fundamental differences in the life cycle that necessitate a different vocabulary among bryologists. -- EncycloPetey 16:17, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image name is misleading

In the image at the start of the Classification section (captioned "three different types of mosses surround this tree trunk"), I can only see two species of moss. The box in the upper right shows a foliose lichen, which is a fungus-alga symbiosis. Also, the box on the left side of the image contains about half moss and half lichen. Does someone have a better image? -- EncycloPetey 16:25, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

A good source of images is always Wikimedia commons - see [Category:Bryophyta]

Velela 06:45, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

I looked, but that category of the Commons is empty. If I were in Arkansas or North Carolina, I'd just pop out and take a good picture to replace the current one. Unfortunately, the local climate is Mediterranean, which doesn't lend itself to finding good shots of mosses. -- EncycloPetey 13:20, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

You're right - sorry - no idea why that link didn't work . Try this one instead

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bryophyta.

There are hundreds of images to choose from. On a related topic, I have included a short plain man's guide to mosses at the beginning to overcome criticisms that this artcile was not suitable for non-botanists. I propose to do something similar for Liverworts and Hornworts. Any views ?

Velela 13:29, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Since this issue covers more than one page, I'll respond on your talk page. -- EncycloPetey 13:55, 10 November 2005 (UTC)