Mossy redwood stump at Mary Easton Picnic Area
Part of our history, Part of our future
Moss appeared on Earth about 480 million years ago, according to the fossil record.
Redwood trees showed up about 200 million years ago, which makes them relative
newcomers.
Both plants seem happy in the Forest of Nisene Marks today! In fact, a sunny day on
the verge of Spring can turn moss into a stunning light show!
Mosses, members of the Bryophyta family, are familiar...but peculiar...plants. They don’t
have roots, but instead grasp their environment with fine hairs called rhizoids. Call it
Paleozoic Velcro! They don’t have channels to conduct water and nutrients the way
most fleshy green plants and trees do, but they absorb moisture directly through the
leaves. Because of their spongy nature, clumps and mats of moss can hold water for
extended times. In dry times, they shrivel...but rejuvenate when it rains.
Mosses don’t have flowers and don’t make seeds, but they reproduce quite effectively!
Ask anybody with a roof in Aptos! In the rainy season, mosses turn bright green.
Enchanted stems emerge from the green mass to release spores to make baby
mosses.
The chip off the old block reproductive strategy works, too, as fragments of a moss can
set up housekeeping and grow happily where they land.
For hikers in the Forest of Nisene Marks, the late winter sunlight piercing the riparian
corridors illuminates the feathery moss cloaking the alders and Big Leaf Maples in a
photographer’s fairy land.
Mosses may not have a brain, but they have a secret artistic nature.
We ❤️ Moss
Map of western North America
in redwood, charcoal, and moss.
Mossy Moai face on an old redwood stump
Mosses love company, especially ferns, in Nisene Marks
This moss held enough water to sprout a Coast Live Oak acorn. And entice
mushrooms to make fruiting bodies.
Mosses can be found almost everywhere—from tropical rainforests to desolate tundra
to desiccating deserts...from the coast (say, Moss Landing) to the frozen stones above
the treelines of towering mountains.
Running water...cool!
Decorating a scallop fossil above Bridge Creek
Mosses love to cling to wood and rocks, but they seem quite content with manmade
structures too.
Adding intrigue to the Steel Bridge
Gently cloaking 130 year old RR ties
Come to the Park and see mosses and mushrooms...and check out the effulgence of
bulging buds, early flowers, dangling catkins, colorful mushrooms, and marvelous
mosses. Look up and see migrating towhees. Look down and find happy salamanders.
Spring is coming.
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