The Wonderful World of Moss

It is something that some people see as annoying, other people try to get it to grow on their gardens because of its beauty and still others couldn’t care less…it is called moss and at first glance it does not seem to be that interesting, just some green stuff growing on the ground, but when you take a closer look and really get into the world of moss, it is then that you can find a world that is virtually unexplored a world full of new things that become intriguing and unforgettable. It is the world of Moss.

Mosses are little tiny non vascular plants with little tiny roof-like and stem-like parts…now these are not real leaves, roots and stems because they miss the one very important ingredient which is vascular tissue. The Botanical word for mosses is Bryophytes, which when you translate it into a language that other people can understand means moss-like plants. Interesting huh?

You cannot just find moss anywhere, oh no, the best place to go moss hunting is in shady, moist areas, like say in the forest. There you are sure to find places where the forest floor is just covered in a beautiful layer of the prettiest green moss. These plants can be found all over the world, at all altitudes no less…mosses like to grow on trees just as much as they like to grow on the ground. You’ll surely find a lot of mosses growing around waterfalls; they just seem to love those moist kinds of areas!

When you take a look at a carpet of moss plants you might notice that each individual moss plant has its own little tiny stalk and leaf structures, which many times are only one cell thick! Mosses do not have roots; instead, God gave them these hair-like things that take the place of roots by absorbing water and minerals out of the soil.

One of the good things that moss does for us is the fact that is helps prevent soil erosion in the places where it grows, peat moss is especially good at this because it has its own special way of absorbing water and preventing it from creating runoff which in its turn would eat away at the soil. Not only that, but peat moss also has an antiseptic which can be used in emergencies! Some other things that mosses can do is to break down minerals that can be found in rocks.

When peat moss decays, it is a main factor in the making of something that we call peat…in some countries this peat is collected and dried and then used to heat peoples homes…another thing that you might be a little more familiar with is the use of peat in gardens. Gardeners like to use peat as a fertilizer for the soil and it is also used as mulch to help prevent water escaping the soil, it is really something.

Who would have thought that an organism that many times only has one celled stems, it does not even have any roots to speak of and yet it can do so much good, and it can help us in so many ways! It all points to the fact that we have a wonderful Creator who obviously knew what He was doing when He made moss, I mean, not only does it prevent the erosion of our precious top soil, but it also provides heat and fuel to keep ourselves warm in the winter and it also helps put food in the mouths of our children. How good can it get?!

One thing that is interesting about moss is the fact that has two types of plant, male and female…at the very beginning of the year, the female plant grows a tiny stalk which has a capsule (spore case). The spore case is released and it falls onto the soft moist ground, if it gets into the right kind of ground then the process of turning into a bunch of tiny moss plants begins. Really amazing!

Moss plants are intriguing little guys, they can capture you interest and then hold it, not to mention the fact that they are very beautiful and deserve a little bit of attention from us now and then!