aquatic moss for ID

lipase · #1 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 06:14 PM

I found this aquatic moss. It seems to have 3 rows of leaves growing along the stems does anyone know how to identify it? It was found in what I think is a horse drinking trough. The kind that is fed water which is presumably drained from a field, and so manages to contain the life in there like a pond, but have constant water-changing and aeration.

Cheers guys

Jack

lipase · #2 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 06:49 PM

my very limited pond life book (collins gem) suggests fontinalis antipyretica (willow moss)

lipase · #3 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 07:16 PM

I don't believe I forgot to attach the picture and then didn't realise afterwards that I hadn't posted it. Here it is:

Lancashire Lad · #4 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 07:29 PM

Hi Jack,

Certainly looks like it to me. Greater Water Moss - Fontinalis antipyretica.

If you still have it, the leaves, in cross section, should be sharply keeled, (something like a slightly rounded V shape, rather than a U shape).

Regards,
Mike.

lipase · #5 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 09:32 PM

Thanks Mike,
yeah the leaves definitely have more of a V cross-section. Just out of interest do you know how many aquatic moss species there are in Britain? This pond life guide mentions three of them; the one I found (Fontinalis antipyretica), Cinclidotus fontinaloides and Leptodictyon riparium

Jack

Lancashire Lad · #6 (**permalink**) 19-03-2010, 11:32 PM

Hi Jack,

The recently published book Mosses & Liverworts of Britain and Ireland, a Field Guide, (British Bryological Society), lists 51 species of moss, and 15 species of liverwort for habitats "Ponds & Lakes - including exposed margins" and "Rivers & Rocky Streams"

It's a superb book, but for a novice like me, it reinforces how little I know, and what a mammoth task it would be to even gain a foothold on the ladder of confident identification.

Regards,
Mike.

lipase · #7 (**permalink**) 20-03-2010, 12:14 PM

Hi Mike,
I've been really surprised about the sheer number of different species (of all organisms) in Britain. I've always had an interest in things that are living but only since a few months ago, I began to realise the huge diversity on this island! There is absolutely no chance of one person being able to identify it all, even the rain man would have difficulties

Jack