The dense carpet-like evergreen mats of moss on the trail are a welcome sign of life on a winter hike. It’s not surprising that mosses grow in the woods especially in habitats that are damp, cool and shady but still accessible to sunlight. 

True mosses belong to a diverse phylum of bryophytes (“moss plants”).  These are small plants that are mostly nonvascular. That is, unlike other things you think of as plants from ferns to cherry trees, mosses don’t generally possess a well developed vascular system. Such a system would transports materials throughout the plant. 

Mosses have an ancient heritage. They evolved tens of millions of years before the earliest vascular plants existed over 400 millions years ago. At present, there are approximately 15,000 species of mosses.  Most are only a few centimeters tall because they don’t have any efficient system to conduct water and minerals from the soil. Mosses live on soil, but also can be seen growing on rocks and fallen tree trunks. These bryophytes have no true roots.  Rather, they absorb the required nutrients from the minerals washed by the rain from overhead foliage. 

Mosses and other plants have complex life cycles. By comparison, animal life cycles are dull. A plant’s life cycle includes both multicellular diploid individuals and multicellular haploid individuals. (Haploids have only one set of chromosomes, diploids have two). In mosses the conspicuous green plant is the haploid generation whereas in common vascular plants the large familiar form of the plant is the diploid generation.  

The rich green color of some mosses is a result of their many photosynthetic cells containing highly organized chlorophyll molecules. These extraordinary molecules absorb light energy and, after some complex biochemical processes, help convert useless atmospheric carbon dioxide into very useful energy-rich sugar molecules.

So, these mosses do not simply add a dash of color to our hike, but among other things, supply food and shelter for small animals and microorganisms, and absorb water to help eliminate the deteriorating effect of heavy rain on the trail.  Mosses are original members of the Trails Preservation Society.