"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 14:45:19 +0000 (UTC), "Franz Heymann"
wrote:


"Alan Welsh" wrote in message
...
Leptobryum pyriforme particularly likes to grow on garden soils.
It is a seedless non-vascular plant and reproduces by growing
spores.
Although it's chiefly used to give a growth 'spurt' to oilseed
rape,
the
actual method of spore propogation is rather unusual....
It is *always* recommended to leave this kind of moss in-situ
rather
than habitually destroying it which is most gardeners instinctive
action.

I don't grow oilseed rape, so what good does it confer on my
garden?
How would I recognise Leptobryum pyriforme?
Is it a particularly uncommon moss? I ask because unless I looked
badly, it is not listed in the book "Grasses, Ferns, Mosses &
Lichens
of Great Britain and Ireland" by Roger Phillips.

Google finds it

http://www2002.stoke.gov.uk/museums/...keystage_4.htm

and
http://www.nps.gov/mora/notes/vol17-1-2e5.htm
"Leptobryum pyriforme (L.) Schimp. known as the Long-necked Bryum,
is
a beautiful form recognized by the long-necked capsules and slender
leaves. It frequents moist places along the Nisqually River Trail."

Thanks for the links. I now know more than before. But I am still
baffled about Alan Welsh's recommendation that this moss should be
left in situ on my garden soil.

Franz