Hi, folks,
I was with the professor at his lab this afternoon. Unfortunately, Gan CW couldn't be there as he's somewhere in Shanghai, China now. Kho was with us though and he had a great time examining the mosses through Professor Benito Tan's microscopes.
Okay, here's my report:
First, let's talk about the Singapore Moss. The professor told me today that this moss is quite a wonderful plant, in the sense that it's very versatile. Their cells are highly variable so under different conditions, the Singapore Moss can show very different growth patterns, so different that it's sometimes quite hard to believe that they are one and the same moss. Here are some pics of the Singapore Moss in various forms:
Nature Aquarium's display tank. Note how stringy the moss looks:
Joe's planted tank. Note how the fronds seem to point horizontally instead of hang down
My Moss Pole. Note how different it looks from the other 2 mosses above
Well, here's the rub. The 3 mosses above are one and the same moss - the Singapore Moss. It's a species of Vesicularia. Amazing, isn't it? I will try and regurgitate what the Prof told me but please take note that what I say may not necessarily be correct as my memory isn't what it used to be. The Prof said it's got something to do with genes. Somewhere along the road of evolution, the Singapore Moss could be a throw-off from the Christmas Moss. In other words, they could possibly share some similar genes. Under certain conditions, the Singapore Moss can throw back into its original genes and morph into a moss which looks very much like Christmas. It's a one way road though. The Christmas can't possibly morph into Singapore; it only happens the other way. The Prof said the Singapore Moss is like the character from the X-men, the one who can morph herself into many forms. Don't expect your Singapore Moss to turn into a sexy girl though; it doesn't work that way
When I was at my nature walk the other day, I took a patch of moss from the bark of a tree. The prof said it's Singapore Moss. Here's the pic:
Can you see, within the patch, that there's a frond that looks somewhat like the Christmas Moss? So you see, even in its natural habitat, the Singapore Moss appears in more than one form.
Okay, that's all for the Singapore Moss. Now for some new mosses.
System Engineering and Control, the fish shop along Bendemeer Road that sells Bioplast products gave me a moss the other day. They call it Mini-Christmas. It's very beautiful. The fronds look like Christmas except that they are much smaller. Here's a pic:
The professor said it's a species of Taxiphyllum but it isn't the same as Taiwan or Java Moss. He couldn't be sure of the species though as we don't know where the moss is orginally from.
Mermaid World, the fish shop in Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 that specialises in many mosses gave me a moss which came with capsules. Melvin Lim, the owner said the moss can be found locally. Here's a pic:
The Prof said it's a species of Taxiphyllum but not the same as Mini-Christmas, Java or Taiwan. The Prof was quite amazed that the moss can be found locally as he said that as far as he know, there's only one species of Taxiphyllum that is native to Singapore, a moss called Taxiphyllum taxirameun. The T. taxirameun is not an aquatic moss though, too bad. The Prof will be examining the moss in greater detail and he'll let me know what species it is as soon as it's confirmed that it is local.
That's all for my report, folks. Watch this space for further news on mosses
Loh K L
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Originally Posted by stormhawk
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