First green on the forest floor
by natureisgrand - April 11th, 2010.Filed under: Noticing Nature.
While walking at NLT in early April, it’s hard not to notice that there are already bright green plants on the forest floor. Some of these are true mosses but the larger ones (relatively speaking) are called club mosses.
These photos I took at NLT depict some different species of club mosses, the Princess Pine or Ground Pine (Lycopodium obscurum) and the Shining club moss (Lycopodium lucidulum). Hopefully if you scroll over the photo you will see a caption. Club mosses are just a bit more advanced than true mosses but more primitive than ferns.
I am currently reading “Gathering Moss”, a wonderful book on the natural history of true mosses by R. Kimmerer. The diversity, ecological intricacies and historic human uses of true mosses are very interesting.
Appreciate the beauty of these non-flowering plants while we wait for the trilliums and trout lilies to appear!