Mosses and the men who love them (our meeting with Dr Tan)

[imported_brbarkey]

Loh K L

If you really want more of my moss to grow it emersed than remind me in a week or two...I have to let it grow
Then I will send you some
It will grow quick now that the SAE is out of the tank

[timebomb]

Loh,Do you want a sample of both?

Thanks for the offer, Jack. But if what you have are from Singapore, chances are I have them in my tanks already. I appreciate the offer very much though.

If you really want more of my moss to grow it emersed than remind me in a week or two...I have to let it grow
Then I will send you some

Thanks, Ben. I will remind you about your offer in a few weeks' time. It seems like the Prof dried out all the mosses I gave him so we don't have any live specimens of your Leptodictyum riparium anymore.

I received another 4 samples of mosses in the mail this week. One came from Dennis aka strung_out in this forum. If memory serves, Dennis who lives in the USA said he got the moss from someone in Singapore. The guy calls it Mini-Moss but I think what Dennis sent is actually the moss we now call "Singapore Moss". Here's a pic:



Jim Swinford who lives in the US of A too sent 2 mosses, one of which didn't survive the journey. Jim thinks it can be revived though but I don't fancy the chances. Here's the pic of the one that died.



Jim said one of the mosses he sent is called Pond Moss but I'm not sure if he meant this one:



Bob Warwick said his Java Moss has capsules and he sent a sample. Just like the one Stephan sent, it was a very small sample so I'm not confident that there are enough fronds for the Prof to make a positive identification. The capsules are there though and they are still sticking to the fronds. I have to get this to the Prof in a hurry before the capsules fall out.



A big Thank You to all who sent mosses. Please keep them coming.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

Just got home from the Prof's lab and here's my report.

The so-called Mini Moss that Dennis sent is, as I suspected, the same moss we now call Singapore Moss. For once, I was right. Hurray

The moss that Jim Swinford sent is a species of Vesicularia and probably is the same as the one we call Christmas Moss. I used the word "probably" because the Prof said it could also be another species of Vesicularia that is native to the United States and not to South East Asia. The Prof humbly admitted that he's an expert only on Asian mosses and not the whole world :smile:.

Now for the all-important moss - the Java Moss that has capsules. Bob Warwick who lives in the US of A sent a sample of capsuled Java Moss. The Prof examined it and confirmed that's its a species of Taxiphyllum but unfortunately, it's not the same species of Taxiphyllum as those found in South East Asia. In other words, what Bob sent was Java Moss alright but it isn't the same as the Java found locally. Sigh, it looks like we are not getting any closer to finding the true identity of the Java Moss.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

The professor will be in Malaysia hunting for more species of mosses so I won't be meeting him at his lab this weekend. Just to let you all who are following this thread have something interesting to read - A close friend who is fascinated by our love for mosses, wrote me and in his email, quoted William Blake,

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

He said that if we can just understand one small thing like a moss and understand it perfectly, it may help us to understand the universe. I don't know about you but if I can grow them, I'm happy :smile:.

Loh K L