Zooming In

Mosses aren't always that easy to identify. There are some whole groups where I don't even bother to try - Sphagnum for example - but when I saw this moss recently on a local sortie I felt I should know what it was, even though there weren't any sporangia present (which is usually a giveaway). But my first attempt at an I.D. was rejected by the verifiers, so I had another go. The shot on the left is a simple iPhone picture to give the "jizz" (nerdslang, "the overall impression of an organism in the field"). Actually, I rather like this one - kudos to my new macro lighting setup (thank you JANSJÖ). The middle shot is a 1x magnification with the MP-E 65mm - but no real clues there. The shot on the right is 5x magnification image stack. See those double-toothed edges on the leaves - that's the giveaway. I then went nuts and stuck the Raynox on the front of the MP-E 65mm for 7x magnification but couldn't get any usable shots - more work needed on the setup to eliminate vibration movement at this extreme. 

Swan's-neck Thyme-moss, Mnium hornum.