BE SURE TO SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

The last frontier of natural history for many of us might be to tackle the common plants that cover the ground rocks, and trees in the various habitats we travel in our quest to find birds, trees, ferns, and wildflowers. Who has not wondered what names the abundant mosses and liverworts, lichens, and even slime molds go by. Are these mysterious living things learnable? When it comes to birds, trees, flowers, and ferns, there has always been a good deal of expertise about. Moreover, there are strong minorities quite knowledgeable about mammals, herps, and butterflies, moths, and odonata. In recent years there have even been more and more people who have developed quite an interest in mushrooms and other fungi. The knowledge of these folks’ presence at forays and field trips, rubs off on many of the rest of us and this is one of the strongest attributes of the wildlife buffs, the sharing of knowledge about natural history.

In addition to native inquisitiveness, learning about these various types of biota has been greatly advanced by the wide availability of first rate guide books and identification manuals. Roger Tory Peterson set a high standard with his introduction of highly informative field guides and this tradition has continued with the Kauffmans, Sibleys, Stokes, and others. The growing knowledge about mushrooms has been greatly enhanced by the publication of first rate field guides.

But there has been a conspicuous lack of public information for the naturalist when it comes to learning something about the mosses and liverworts (bryophytes). We have all seen these beautiful plants on just about any field trip we take and who has not wondered what the individual types might be called or how they reproduce and eke out a living amongst so many other forms of life? There is very little in the way of field guides available for mosses and none in the Peterson mode. An older field guide of the W.C. Brown How To Know series, by Henry S. Conrad (and later with Paul S. Redfearn, Jr.), has been available for many years, but anyone trying to use it quickly finds out that this is not for the field naturalist in that so many of the details, even at the genus level, requires the use of a compound microscope.

This puts the game at an entirely different level. Nature lovers who are used to making IDs based upon such easily observable characteristics as wing bars, flight patterns, mating calls, etc. will be put off if they have to take the specimen home to dissect it in preparation for microscopic examination. Identifying wild flowers and even ferns based on an overall gestalt impression of the plant seen while driving by in an automobile is completely out of the question regarding bryophytes. Most of us know a few by sight, for instance, the very common Sphagnum species which are so much a part of terrain we love to explore, e.g., Dolly Sods, Cranberry Glades, etc. Did you know that there were 20 species of Sphagnum in WV? Many of us might also be familiar with common Polytrichum mosses, but rare is the individual who can differentiate a true moss from a liverwort.

Fortunately, help is available although not yet at the level of the Peterson guides, mostly for the technical reasons alluded to previously. A wonderful little guide entitled, Outstanding Mosses and Liverworts of Pennsylvania and Nearby States (which would include Ohio and WV), written by Susan Munch can go a long way towards whetting your appetite and curiosity for these beautiful plants. Lavishly illustrated with color photographs, the spiral bound volume lies flat on the table while you work with your collection, something that would be nice to see with other guide books. Munch introduces the naturalist to about 50 different types of bryophytes, most to the genus level, but some even to species. She has picked the most common plants as well as those identifiable without a microscope. Technobabble is kept to a minimum although there is a glossary to explain the few technical words necessary to describe the unique characteristics.

The great little book is available directly from the author for $18 (includes shipping). To order, contact Dr. Munch at 49 Water St., Oley, PA 19547.

One other publication may be of additional interest although it is not helpful in identifying unknowns and that is an annotated checklist of all the bryophyte species that have been found in West Virginia. It tells where each species has been found and in what kind of habitat it exists. The one for West Virginia was compiled by Susan Studlar, Stephen L. Stevenson, and Paul L. Harmon. Check on availability of this publication from Publications, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 67, Elkins, WV 26241.

And what about the primitive plants you see so often on your field trips; those which are among the hardiest organisms on the planet, capable of surviving in the most extreme habitats and weather conditions – the lichens? Ruggedly beautiful to the naked eye, they are even more intriguing when viewed with a hand lens. Many of us know Reindeer Moss, British Soldiers, and Rock Tripe, but what of the many other species so commonly encountered. Don’t fret – help has arrived in the form of a wonderful identification manual entitled, The Macrolichens in West Virginia by Don G. Flenniken. This wonderful manual defines the technical things to look for (many requiring the use of a hand lens) and includes a glossary. A key to the genera is fairly easy to use and after having arrived at the appropriate genus, additional keys help you try to arrive at a species ID. Each species is described in detail and information is given as to where one finds it and in what WV counties it has been found. The format is similar to that of Strausbaugh and Core’s manual for the vascular plants of West Virginia. The manual includes color plates illustrating each species described. It is available for $32.88 (includes tax and shipping) from: Publications, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 67, Elkins, WV 26241. You can also still obtain a 1979 guide to nationwide lichen identification written by Mason Hale (who did much of his collecting in WV). It is part of the How To Know nature series and is available from Amazon.com.

For the most puzzling organisms of all, the slime molds, there is even a little help to identify eighteen of the most common slime molds you are likely to notice. One of the most notable is seen early every summer by anyone who gardens and that is the brilliant yellow mass resembling scrambled eggs covering mulch or vegetative litter. Want to know more? By using the following web site: http://www.wvdnr.gov/Wildlife/PDFFiles/slimemolds.pdf, you are directed to a one page guide of 18 full-color images of commonly-encountered species in West Virginia. Simply run this off on your printer and if you have access to a laminator, you can “plasticize” it for permanent safe-keeping. More detailed information about slime mold identification can also be obtained from Amazon.com with a book entitled, Myxomycetes: A Handbook of Slime Molds, an illustrated paperback by Steven Stephenson ( a former Fairmont State prof) and Henry Stempen.

Armed with these publications, one can easily gain an appreciation and even some specifics about these intriguing parts of our natural world.