Springy Turf-moss

This is a widespread moss in urban areas, common in lawns and golf courses, as it favours unimproved or semi-improved grassland.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus
Family: 
Feather mosses
Family Latin name: 
HYLOCOMIACEAE
Category: 
Non-flowering Plants
Vernacular names: 

Lawn Moss, Spreading Shaggy Moss

Species description

Species description

This is a widespread moss in urban areas, common in lawns and golf courses, as it favours unimproved or semi-improved grassland. It grows in turf in the cemetery.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)
Stock species image
Springy Turf-moss

Image obtained from Wikipedia.

Details

Species family information

This family contains some large mosses that can carpet large areas of woodland.

Category information

Nucleic multicellular photosynthetic organisms lived in freshwater communities on land as long ago as a thousand million years, and their terrestrial descendants are known from the late PreCambrian 850 million years ago. Embryophyte land plants are known from the mid Ordovician, and land plant structures such as roots and leaves are recognisable in mid Devonian fossils. Seeds seem to have evolved by the late Devonian.

The earliest known plant group is the Archaeplastida, which were autotrophic. Listing just the surviving descendants, which evolved in turn, we have the Red Algae, the Chlorophyte Green Algae, the Charophyte Green Algae, and then the Embryophyta or land plants. The earliest embryophytes were the Liverworts, followed by the Hornworts, and the Mosses. Then we have the Vascular Plants, the Lycophytes and Ferns, followed by the Spermatophytes or seed plants, of which the non-flowering types are the Gnetophytes, Conifers, Ginkgos, and Cycads. The last four are also referred to as Gymnosperms, because their seeds are unprotected by an ovary or fruit. The seeds develop either on the surface of scales or leaves, which are often modified to form cones, or are solitary as in the yew and ginkgo. This completes the evolutionary order of the non-flowering plants. The final group to evolve was the Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms) or flowering plants, whose seeds and ovules are enclosed within an ovary or fruit, and which are on a separate list.

Further information

Mosses 

There are 763 species of British mosses, which are small, non-vascular plants forming dense green clumps or mats in damp or shady places. Perennial mosses are evergreen. Individual plants usually have simple leaves attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched. Instead of roots, mosses have rhizoids. Mosses assist control of soil erosion by providing surface cover and by absorbing water. An important genus is Sphagnum, whose species form peat. Vast mires of moss lock up huge quantities of carbon, of vital importance in the mitigation of climate change. 

Mosses reproduce by the release of spores from little capsules on short stalks. Most mosses have one of two growth forms. Acrocarp mosses grow upright, forming mats, with capsules on the tips of their shoots. Pleurocarp mosses have sprawling growth, with capsules on the sides of their shoots. 

The Mosses of Heene Cemetery is a blog post on our website which gathers together photographs of all the species in the Cemetery - along with other interesting information about mosses.