Hi, folks,
Gan and I were at the professor's lab today and this is my report.
Bioplast fish shop aka "The moss growers of Boon Keng" has a moss that grows upright and spirals. Bioplast calls it "Flame Moss". Here are some pictures:
Closer to the lights, the moss tends to get *burnt* and turns brown in colour. Further from the lights, it's a dark green and the spirals are more distinct. The professor examined the moss and he's sure it's a Taxiphyllum, another new species on a long list of Taxiphyllum's that are appearing in the market periodically. It's a pity the prof cannot confirm the species name. The Flame Moss looks distinctly different from the other aquarium mosses we know and I'm sure it will become very popular after a while.
Okay, now for the other bryophyte - the one from Tropica that is commonly known as "Coral Pellia". Tropica's name tag states it's a "Moss div." Here's a picture:
I thought it looks more like a liverwort and for once, I was right. The professor said it's a species of Riccardia. He can't tell the species but is it the same as the Riccardia known as "Mini-Pellia"? Here's a picture of the Mini-Pellia:
I thought they are the same but Robert who lives in Germany is quite sure they are different. He thinks the difference is obvious. When I brought the Coral Pellia to the professor, I also brought along Mini-Pellia. The professor examined both liverworts and I'm afraid I have to tell you the results aren't conclusive. The professor can't be sure. It could be they are the same liverwort or they could be different species. The professor is an expert bryologist but his speciality does not cover liverworts. And even to bryologists, identities of the various bryophytes can be very confusing sometimes. The prof told me this story:
A while back, a group of bryologists from Finland visited Singapore. The professor invited them to do a study of the various Riccardia's found here and they confirmed what the professor said in his book, that there's only one species of Riccardia in Singapore and that is, Riccardia graeffei. Not long after that, a bryologist from Japan came to visit and the professor invited him to conduct a similar study. The Japanese bryologist's findings were very different from the Finn's. He thinks there are 4 species of Riccardia's here.
So you see, even the bryologists themselves are confused
Anyway, when he was examining the Coral Pellia, the professor discovered a sporophyte among the leaves. I took a picture of it through the microscope. Here it is:
Did you see it? No?
Here's a better picture:
Does it remind you of something? A maggot of a housefly or something else?Anyway, the black tip is the capsule and the white stem the seta. Together, it forms a sporophyte. Not an erection, you dirty fellow, you
Loh K L
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Originally Posted by dageti
I love the picture aquascaped by Oliver Knott using the Utricularia sp.
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