The Signature of All Things: Part 1

I read through the first part of The Signature of All Things this past weekend. There is not much to report on the bryological front. Mosses only popped in once or twice. They were used to pack seeds and other plants for transport during long ocean voyages of the 18th and 19th centuries. In this part of the book we are briefly introduced to the main character, Alma, at her birth. Mainly this section focuses on Alma's grandfather, father, and thus her botanical roots.

This book is at the top of my pleasure reading pile. More updates to come after I read through Part 2. 

The Mystery of the Missing Moss

This is a tale of a small group of mosses in the genus Sorapilla. Over the past 150 years they were located by scientists only a handful of times in the wild. That is until recently. A undergraduate student found a population of Sorapilla papuana in Queensland, Australia. 

The real mystery about these mosses is determining its closest relatives. It has a very unique morphology = (exterior size and shape), which has helped researchers come up with hypotheses about its relatives. This new discovery of live mosses means that DNA can be extracted from the plants and used to test these ideas, potentially resolving the conundrum of Sorapilla's relatives.

Honestly I had never known about this genus before hearing about it's recent re-discovery. The article (linked to above) alludes to its unique morphology and I was interested to learn more about it. These mosses grow in tropical regions, so off I went to my Guide to the Bryophytes of Tropical America. To my surprise and delight I discovered that Sorapilla mimics some of my favorite mosses, the Fissidentaceae. 

Both Sorapilla and the Fissidentaceae have leaves in two-ranks, meaning they have a row that runs along the right side of the stem opposite a row that runs down the left side. Most mosses have leaves that spiral around the stem, sticking off in all possible directions. The other cool feature about the leaves is that they are divided into two regions a single layered lamina at the top and a region below where the leaf forks, creating a pocket that clasps the leaf above it. Based on my reading, these are the only two groups of mosses with this type of leaf. Despite these similarities, other features of the sporophyte indicate that Sorapilla and the Fissidentaceae are not closely related. I am really excited to hear what the findings are from the DNA data and which mosses are the closest relatives of Sorapilla. If in the end it is not a close relative of the Fissidentaceae, then it will be another cool example of convergent evolution. Two distantly related species evolving similar morphologies.  

Click here for a link to an image of Sorapilla papuana. 
Not to be confused with sopapillas, the tasty fried pastry.

For comparison, this is a photo of Fissidens that
I took while hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

I find it a funny irony that the closest town to the population of the rediscovered moss is called Mossman. It sounds like a town full or moss super heros. MossMan! However, the town name was originally Mosman, so it probably wasn't named for moss plants.  

Hat tip to Dr. Tobias Landberg for sending me the article about this discovery. 

November 2013 Desktop Calendar

Another lovely moss from our summer hike up Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire. This is the moss Polytrichum commune. Its common name is the hairy-capped moss, named so for its hairy calyptra. Calyptra are the little caps of maternal gametophyte tissue that cover the top of the young offspring sporophytes. These caps prevent water loss from the apex of the developing plant. Think of it as your mother sending you out the door to play with a fuzzy little cap atop your head. However, this cap is meant to keep your wet hair from drying out rather than to keep out the cold. I like to think of it as a reverse shower cap. A little odd to imagine the human equivalent, but it works well by keeping the top of the mosses moist in the dry air. For more on calyptra, check out this summary about my PhD research studying calyptrae. Happy November!

1 - Single click on the image to open it up in a new window. (If you use the image directly from the blog post you will lose a lot of resolution.)

2 - Right-click (or ctrl-click) on the image, and chose the option that says, "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use as Desktop Picture". The wording may vary.

3 - If the image does not fit your desktop neatly, you may have to adjust the image (Mac: System Preferences - Desktop and Screen Saver - Desktop; Windows: Control Panel - Display - Desktop) and choose "Fill screen" as the display mode of your background image.

A New Moss Identification Guide

I recently reviewed this new moss field guide for the Botanical Society of America's Plant Science Bulletin. The link below will take you to the Fall 2013 volume. My review is on pages 131 and 132.

Budke JM. 2013. Book Review of Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians. Plant Science Bulletin 59(3): 131-132.

Overall I think that this is a really great text and would highly recommend it for anyone interested in identifying mosses in the northeastern United States and Canada from Wisconsin to Nova Scotia and south throughout the Appalachian Mountains. (Full disclosure: I did receive a free copy of the book when writing this review, but was in no other way compensated.) 

For another perspective, check out this review: Kimmerer, RW. 2013. Field Guide to Northeast Mosses. The Bryologist 116(3):321-322.

In the same volume of the Plant Science Bulletin (pg 137-138) there is a review of the latest book by Amy Stewart The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks. I have one of her earlier books Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities. I really enjoyed this earlier book and am looking forward to reading the new one! Exploring the plants that are deadly and atrocious is one way to get people interested in plants. Enlightening them about plants used in alcoholic beverages is sure to be another fun way to start thinking about plants. A fact of note: the review of Stewart's book is by Alexandra Boni an undergraduate student from Bucknell University. Kudos to her for writing a nice review of the book. It most certainly has me excited to check it out!

UPDATE - 22 Nov 2013 - Another positive review of this book. Hedenäs, L. 2013. Common Mosses of the Northeast and Appalachians. 173(4): 790–791.

Have you heard of Bogology?

Have you heard of Bogology? Probably not, because I think it is a bit of a newly invented term. Bogology is the study and science of peatlands. I just heard about this new website and blog by researchers from the United Kingdom who are studying peatlands. If you are interested in peat bogs and Sphagnum mosses, the information and discussions they have will be right up your alley.

Thanks to Dr. Kaisa Kajala for making me aware of this site!

The Bryophytes on the Cover

The front cover of Elizabeth Gilbert's new novel The Signature of All Things features some lovely bryophyte paintings. They are from the 1905 edition of the German encyclopedia Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. I have not had the pleasure of perusing this encyclopedia, but I do have fond memories of an English version of encyclopedia Britannica. My parents bought a set when I was in elementary school. Black and red cover, crisp glossy pages. Ah, memories. Can you tell I am a bit of a bibliophile? For those of you who have not enjoyed a hardbound encyclopedia set, they were the precursor to google and wikipedia. Want to know something about a fast animal, far-a-way country, historic event, or odd fruit? As my dad would always say, "Go check the encyclopedia." It provided tons of information to answer my pressing questions and constant need to know. Sometimes my sister and I would just sit down with a volume and flip through pages, reading about interesting topics for fun. Did I mention that I grew up in rural Indiana and there weren't a lot of entertainment options?  


Back to the bryophytes of the beautiful image on the cover of The Signature of All Things. In terms of bryophyte identification, there are some complex thalloid liverworts in front with tall antheridiophores and archegoniophores springing up from the ribbons below. Antheridiophores are the male reproductive structures that produce sperm; archegoniophores are the female reproductive structures that make eggs.  On either edge of the cover are mosses with sporophyte capsules elevated on tall stalks. They are most definitely members of the Splachnaceae, the dung moss family. I love saying that name (SP-laCK!-n-ace-a-ee). It has a very dung-y ring to the name! My best guess on a species level identification is Splachnum luteum.  The common names for members of this genus are really great. They include umbrella moss and petticoat moss, which describe the shape of the capsules. I think that petticoat moss is especially fitting for the cover of a book set in Victorian times, about a woman who most likely wore petticoats. 

A New Botanical Heroine

Rarely do female botanists appear as characters in pop culture. Exceptions that I can think of are Poison Ivy from the Batman comics and movies. She was a botanist before becoming a plant-loving super villain. Also there was the horrible movie Paycheck that featured a female botanist as the love interest. This movie sticks in my mind because the portrayal of her 'botany lab' was completely fantastical and laughable.

In comparison, I have much higher hopes for the botanical heroine in Elizabeth Gilbert's new novel The Signature of All Things. Not only is the heroine a botanist, but she is a bryologist! I have heard good things about the book both through reviews in the popular media and fellow bryologists. Fortunately for me I have great friends that indulge my passion for mosses and I was gifted this book for my upcoming birthday. I will keep you posted on my reading progress and any bryological gems that I find!

For more about the book, check out Barbara Kingsolver's review in the New York Times.

Mosses in the Garden

Thinking about integrating some mosses into your garden or landscaping? Have a shady spot that could use a bit of green? Gardening with mosses may be in your future...

Kathy Connolly has written an article on just this topic for The Day newspaper out of New London, CT. I am quoted throughout the article for some tips and moss biology info. Check out the full text for free on their website.

My favorite quote from the article. 

"If you put a philodendron through a blender," says Budke, "you have a dead philodendron. But with moss, each living cell is capable of growing a whole new plant. That's why the blender works." 

This the backyard of the house where I used to live in Connecticut.
Others might call it the 'frog pond' or 'herpetology pool'.
I always thought of it as the "moss pond".

That is just one amazing fun fact about mosses! Each live cell is totipotent. Meaning that each can regrow an entirely new plant and be any type of cell. Similar to stem cells in animals that can be used to grow many different types of organs.

Overall it was a fun interview to give and I think the article came out very well! Informative, interesting, and all about mosses!

October 2013 Desktop Calendar

Pictured here are a few mosses in yellow-green that are surrounded by some complex thalloid liverworts for your October desktop. These are from our hike to the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve this past spring. The weather is finally starting to cool down here in the central valley and I am hoping that we will get out for a few more hikes while the weather is lovely and comfortable. Happy botanizing!

1 - Single click on the image to open it up in a new window. (If you use the image directly from the blog post you will lose a lot of resolution.)

2 - Right-click (or ctrl-click) on the image, and chose the option that says, "Set as Desktop Background" or "Use as Desktop Picture". The wording may vary.

3 - If the image does not fit your desktop neatly, you may have to adjust the image (Mac: System Preferences - Desktop and Screen Saver - Desktop; Windows: Control Panel - Display - Desktop) and choose "Fill screen" as the display mode of your background image.

Rare Mosses and Liverworts of England

It has been a full week with little time for me to work up my own blog post. Instead I encourage you to check out a post over on the IAB blog by a bryological colleague, Juan Carlos Villarreal. It is a book review of a new text focusing on rare mosses and liverworts of England. He gives you the highlights of the book and includes the details of one rare moss species Telaranea murphyae Paton. Enjoy!

Click here for a link to the IAB blog.

Two Structures, One Set of Genes

When presented with a problem it is typically easier to solve it with tools at your disposal rather than inventing something new. This is also the case for plants and animals. When presented with a developmental or evolutionary challenge, it is often easier for them to use genes that already exist in their genetic toolkit to respond to the challenge.

Rhizoids are thin filaments of cells that anchor leafy moss plants onto their growth surface, which can be soil, rock, or trees, just to name a few. Rhizoids also function in water uptake. They help by creating many capillary spaces in which water can be move from the soil to the plant. However, rhizoids are not the only structures that are able to take up water in mosses. The leafy gametophyte plants can absorb water through many parts of their body including leaves and stems. 

The water uptake structures that you are probably more familiar with are roots. They are underground organs that function in water uptake and anchor the sporophytes of vascular plants into the soil. Near the tips of each root there are elongated, filamentous cells (root hairs) that increase the surface area through which the roots can take in water. 

Though root hairs and rhizoids have similar functions and they both start with the letter 'R', these two structures have completely independent evolutionary origins. By that I mean that root hairs are not rhizoids that have been changed and modified over evolutionary time. Another piece of evidence that points to them being evolutionary independent is that rhizoids are only present on the gametophytes, whereas root hairs are only on the sporophytes. Having structures that are exclusive to opposite generations typically indicates that have evolved independently. 

So, root hairs and rhizoids have similar functions, structurally they are both filamentous in shape, but what about the genes that control their development. Might they be using the same or similar parts of their genetic toolkit to build these two structures? 

Scientists examined this by figuring out the genes that are important for forming the root hairs in flowering plants, then looking to see if these same genes are also important for root hairs in mosses (Menand et al 2007; Pires et al 2013). The figure below shows some of their results. Let me walk you through it. On the left are mosses will brown rhizoids growing from the base. On the right are flowering plant roots with thin root hairs sticking out of the sides. WT and Col0 are what the plants look like naturally with no changes to the genes. 

Part of Figure 4 from Menand et al 2007

They found a group of related genes in mosses and flowering plants that influence both rhizoid and root hair formation. Pprsl1, Pprsl2, and rhd6-3 are the names of three members of this group of genes. 

What we see on the left is that they knockout/turn off Pprsl1 = rhizoids still form, they knockout/turn off Pprsl2 = rhizoids still form, but when they turn both of them off  = no to only a few rhizoids form. 

On the left, center panel they turn off the gene rhd6-3 and the root does not make any root hairs. The coolest part of the study is that they are able to knock out the gene that makes root hairs, then use the moss gene to control the formation of root hairs. They are using a moss gene to control the production of root hairs in a flowering plant. Pretty wild!

This is just a small part of the story where they show that root hairs and rhizoids are controlled by the same network of genes. I think that it is a great example of plants using the genetic tools at their disposal to build similar structures on completely different parts of the plant in distantly related species. 

Check out the publications for more details about their experiments and findings. 

Menand B, Yi K, Jouannic S, Hoffmann L, Ryan E, Linstead P, Schaefer DG, &; Dolan L (2007). An ancient mechanism controls the development of cells with a rooting function in land plants. Science (New York, N.Y.), 316 (5830), 1477-80 PMID: 17556585


Pires ND, Yi K, Breuninger H, Catarino B, Menand B, &; Dolan L (2013). Recruitment and remodeling of an ancient gene regulatory network during land plant evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (23), 9571-6 PMID: 23690618

Do you have Pteridomania?

On the title page of her book Fern Fever: The Story of Pteridomania Sarah Whittingham informs us of the following definitions.

"Pteris Greek word for a fern, derived from pteron, meaning feather or wing. Pteridophytes The ferns and fern allies. Pteridologist One who studies ferns scientifically. Pteridomania Fern madness. Pteridomaniac One who suffers fern madness."

I just started exploring this book written about the Victorian obsession with ferns. It is a large coffee-table sized book with a myriad of color images and photos of all things fern. The introduction covers how the fern craze began in the 1850's with collectors traveling the world and sending ferns back to England for cultivation. With the invention of the Wardian case, a small terrarium, ferns were brought into people's homes. At the same time many authors were publishing books about growing ferns and the types of ferns native to Britain. Naturalist and gardeners alike could not get enough of them. Ferns even made it into fashion as a design embellishment on dresses. 

I think that it is going to be a fun and educational read. I would recommend it for anyone who is already obsessed with ferns or would like to join in the craze. It will also be appealing to the history-minded and lovers of the Victorian era.   

At this time, science was the realm of mostly learned, wealthy white men. Women with botanical interests, also white and wealthy, collected, drew, and dried plant specimens under the purview of a gentle hobby. They knew little about how ferns reproduced. One fantastical idea was that they flowered only once per year and the spores could only be collected at night. Around the same time Wilhelm Hofmeister was just publishing his findings on the alternation of generations and plant life cycles. Interesting to think how far science has come both in our knowledge about plants and increased inclusiveness of people from diverse backgrounds. 

I leave you with a poem that Sarah Whittingham includes in her book on page 40. I especially like it because it contains a shout-out to my favorite ferny friends, the mosses.  

Auld Botany Been was wont to jog

Thro' rotten slough and quagmire bog 

O'er brimful dykes and marshes dank, 

Where Jack o' Lanterns play and prank,   

To seek a cryptogameous store 

Of mosses and carex and fungus hoare, 

Of ferns and brakes and such-like sights

 As tempt out scientific weights

On winter's day; but most his joy

Was finding what's called Osman's Roy.

- Plues A Summer Study of Ferns