I'm a little late with my follow a tree with Loose and Leafy post this month, but better late than never as they say.
Firstly I thought I'd show you close-ups of my chosen tree, a (almost) 100 year old Bramley Apple tree that can be found in the orchard at The Orchard Tea Room & Farm Shop.
As you can see the tree has not escaped damage during its' long life. Part of it is hollow, possibly caused by a branch falling long ago. But there is plenty of life there.
The branches are encrusted with mosses up to 16 different moss species have been found on the old Bramley trees in this particular orchard:
| 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 |
The tree is almost in blossom, I'll get some photographs for you as the buds open.
The mosses have wonderful names. Mosses are fascinating. I don't know which is which and I don't understand out how they 'work' but they are so beautiful and interesting they can hold my attention way beyond my knowledge and their size.
ReplyDeleteI don't know which is which either Lucy, the orchard was surveyed by an OPAL expert if you're interested you can find out more on the OPAL website http://www.opalexplorenature.org they do have a downloadable guide to orchard mosses http://www.opalexplorenature.org/sites/default/files/7/file/Orchard%20mosses%20final%20paginated%20hi%20res.pdf
ReplyDeleteand loads of other useful stuff.
A most interesting tree following post, and terrific photos Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteI am amazed by the number of mosses.
ReplyDeleteI love old apple trees. I have some very old ones in my orchard but it is difficult to tell how old. Do you know what sort of age they can get to?
wonderful to read the diversity of mosses!
ReplyDeleteWonderful, I had no idea there could be so many mosses on one tree. I have one pretty old apple tree (not as old as this), I'll go and have a good look at it tomorrow. I'm 'following' an alder sapling I planted, so there's nothing particularly living on it or in it yet - not like your venerable apple!
ReplyDeleteChloris the original Bramley apple tree still survives it's over 200 years old.
ReplyDelete