Tuesday 2 April 2013

Orchard Mosses

I'm extraordinarily lucky to meet some incredibly knowledgeable people during my orchard work and even luckier that they are willing to share their knowledge with me. Here the "Moss Man" shares the list of different moss species found on just 10 Bramley apple trees:

Here is the list of mosses found in a Fenland orchard. Most of the plants are fairly common; the more interesting ones are hi-lighted in blue. These are mostly Clean Air species which would have been extremely rare up until the Clean Air Acts brought in during the late 1960s. Improving air quality (plus the cessation of spraying trees with Tar Oil) has meant that fruit trees in general have been steadily acquiring more and more interesting species. However, there seems to be differences between different cultivars and their ability to host mosses. This, and the age of the trees, also seems to affect the picture though how all the different factors interact is currently not clear.
Another feature of interest is the variation which may exist between trees (and sometimes even between branches); the Best Bramley had 16 species on it, the worst had only 6 out of the 10 trees sampled.
SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME NOTES
Amblystegium serpens Creeping Feather-moss
Brachythecium rutabulum Rough-stalked Feather-moss
Bryum capillare Capillary Thread-moss
Ceratodon purpureus Redshank
Cryphaea heteromalla Lateral Cryphaea A Clean Air species
Dicranoweisia cirrata Common Pincushion
Frullania dilatata Dilated Scalewort
Grimmia pulvinata Grey-cushioned Grimmia
Homalothecium sericeum Silky Wall Feather-moss
Hypnum cupressiforme Cypress-leaved Plait-moss
Hypnum resupinatum Supine Plait-moss
Orthotrichum affine Wood Bristle-moss
Orthotrichum diaphanum White-tipped Bristle-moss
Orthotrichum lyellii Lyell's Bristle-moss A Clean Air species
Rhynchostegium confertum Clustered Feather-moss
Syntrichia laevipila Small Hairy Screw-moss
Syntrichia montana Intermediate Screw-moss
Syntrichia papillosa Marble Screw-moss A Clean Air species
Ulota bruchii Bruch's Pincushion A Clean Air species
Ulota phyllantha Frizzled Pincushion A Clean Air species
Zygodon conoideus Lesser Yoke-moss

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