Mosses – too small to be seen in detail without a strong hand lens and existing in a layer of atmosphere surrounding all terrestrial objects that is too subtle for our crude senses to perceive, they flourish throughout the world playing roles in the global ecosystem that we are only beginning to understand. By most people they are scarcely noticed at best; simply acknowledged as that fuzzy green stuff filling in sidewalk cracks and clinging to the bark of trees. At worst they are reckoned, often by home-owners, as the bane of house roof longevity and well-groomed lawns; something to be killed and removed whenever possible. Yet to those who would stop, even if only briefly to consider them, mosses are as fascinating as they are ancient. These last messages, along with a solid, introductory account of their natural history, are what Robin Wall Kimmerer seeks to convey to the reader in her book Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. In this she succeeds marvelously in ways that are not only scientific but philosophical and poetic as well. Read the rest of this entry »