Moss Sporophytes

Having done the chores (well almost!), I headed over to Frensham Little Pond to enjoy a stroll in the pleasant warm weather.

Away from the pond was open heathland, which had clearly been subject to a fire with the last few years. The few remaing trees had fallen or were dead, but the area was busy regenerating. One particular feature was a wonderful orange/golden moss covering much of the exposed ground, tunrning the whole hillside gold. Getting down close, the colour from these red stems rising above the leaves with tiny capsules.

Rather appropriately for Mother's Day, these are apparently female mosses which, like our own dear mothers, have work to do; they can't just sit there and look handsome, like the males. After a rainy day, once sperm from the males has migrated across the wet surface and fertilized the young female plants, they develop sporophytes, the long stems topped with spore cases. The spores are formed inside the capsules which are no bigger than a pinhead. When they are mature, a lid pops open, displaying a toothed "mouth" (peristome); and the spores shoot out.