Mini pommes vertes

L’espèce de cette mousse est Bartramia pomiformis. Ses capsules ont une rondeur caractéristique en forme de pomme qui lui a donné son nom.

On les trouve sur des rochers dans les forêts acides et souvent proches des ruisseaux comme ici.

 

Bartramia pomiformis, the common apple-moss is a species of moss. It is typically green or glaucous in hue, although sometimes it can appear yellowish. As in many species of mosses, they are curled when dry but stick out when moist.

The capsules are particularly distinctive, and gave the common name being spherical and asymmetric, initially green but becoming brownish and ridged with age.

Reddish rhizoids can often be seen on the stem.

The species is found in acidic or neutral substrates, particularly rock ledges, but also walls and earth banks. These sites are typically humid and shaded, often near streams as this is the case here. 

Rosée de printemps

Perles de rosée sur des brins de mousse dans la vallée du Sant

Dew drops on mosses in the Sant Valley

Ceci n'est pas un spermatozoïde

 Capsule à spores de mousse givrée (solarisée)

Mais c’est aussi impliqué dans un cycle de reproduction: c’est une capsule à spores de mousses (3 mm). A maturité, la capsule s’ouvre et libère les spores. Certaines grossiront et produiront des cellules mâles qui, comme les spermatozoïdes du Règne animal sont également flagellées. Les mousses ont besoin d’eau pour permettre ensuite le déplacement de ces cellules mâles vers les cellules femelles issues du développement d’autres spores.

But still part of a reproduction cycle: this is containing spores of mosses (3 mm). The capsule will eject spores. Part of them will grow and produce male cells that are flagellated alike animal sperm. Mosses need water to allow the male cells swimming and finding females cells produced by spores too.

Découvrez d’autres mousses de la vallée du Sant.

More mosses of the Sant valley

Belle tout le long de l'année

Contrairement à de nombreuses plantes et aux feuillus, les mousses sont belles toute l’année, il suffit de s’en approcher pour les découvrir en toutes saisons.

Mosses are beautiful all around the year, including in winter, while many plants or broadleaves trees are not. You just need to look at them closely.

Une année lumineuse

Je vous souhaite une année aussi lumineuse que cette goutte d’eau au bout de ce petit un brin d’herbe, sur un lit de mousses étoilées

Happy new year, as clear as this tiny water drop on star mosses scenery

Fragile beauté

 

Petit brin de mousse dans un coin secret de la Montagne Noire

Small mosses in a quiet spot of the Black Mountain

Découvrez d’autres mousses de la Vallée du Sant

Other mosses in the Sant Valley

From mini to Giga

Ferns are the first vascular plants that appeared in the fossil record about 360 million years ago.

Thanks to lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant and non-lignified tissue (the phloem) to conduct products of photosynthesis ferns can grow while more primitive plants like algae and mosses cannot and remain close to the soil and water supply on the ground.

There are more than 13 000 species of ferns. We have many in our forest in the Black Mountain like this tiny northern spleenwort or forked spleenwort (Asplenium septentrionale) you could miss if not looked at with care when it is young and curly.

The other place to go to see many ferns species is New Zealand, we just visited. Around 83 Million years ago, these islands started to separate from Australia forming the Tasman Sea. There, 200 specific species of ferns can be found, among other the terrific fern trees.

Cheveux de fée

Cette nuit une fée de la forêt a laissé sa tresse sur un arbre

Mousse: 

Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum

Découvrez d’autres mousses de la vallée du Sant

More mosses of the Sant valley

Attention! piège

Sous un rayon de soleil, perles de pluie sur une toile d’araignée

Under sun rays, rain drops on a spider web

Cette photo n’a pas été retouchée, seul un masque noir a été rajouté sur le pourtour. Elle a été prise sous la lumière naturelle du soleil. Les couleurs vertes et orange sont celles de mousses et roches situées sous la toile. La profondeur de champ est due à l’ajout d’une lentille supplémentaire à l’objectif de l’appareil photo.

This picture has not been modified and only a black layer has been inserted. The light is from the sun, the green and orange colors are mosses and stones behind the web. A magnifier lens has been added to the camera lens.

For your eyes only

Moss sporangia

Mosses or Bryophytes are the oldest of all lineages of land plants and are believed to have been the first migrating from aquatic environments onto land more than 400 million years ago.

They produce neither flower nor seed, reproducing via spores through a complex reproductive cycle and structures that allowed their development and survival up to now.

More mosses of the Sant valley

In the forest with Lilliputians

The forests here, in the Black Mountain, are not only a paradise for geologists (see post “once upon a time were rocks” in Walks), but also the paradise of bryologists. The later are not some kind of professor Nimbus but specialists of mosses which scientific name is bryophytes.

This group is highly diversified with more than 20 000 species which have been reported already. Very primitive, they lack vascular tissue containing lignin. Mosses reproduce using spores, not seeds, and have nor flowers neither root. Evidence for the appearance of the first land plants occurs in the Ordovician, around 450 million years ago in the form of fossil spores.

Several species of Bryophytes, Marchantiophyta and Anthocerotophyta as well are common here.

Many species of lichen can be found here too. It is a complex group of plants depending on a close association between a fungus and an alga in a symbiotic relationship.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/lichens-do-not-age-120852/?no-ist

More mosses of the Sant valley

Activities proposed during your holidays

  "In every walk with Nature, one receives far more than he seeks" John Muir

1-     Forest trails

Biodiversity in a mixed forest of the Central Massif

       Guardian Trees

        Mosses & lichens

        Ferns

        Miscellaneous plants

        Mushrooms (Autumn holidays)

Our farm and forest in the valley of the creek Le Sant.
The cottage is 300 m downstream

2-       Geology trails

        Black Mountain and its rocks

        Metamorphic rocks trail

        Karst trail

        Granite trails (Lampy & Sidobre)

3-       Astronomy evenings

        From the Earth to the Moon

        Wonderful solar system

        Billions of stars

        Infinite galaxies

       Star-night national event:  weekend end July-beginning August, one subject per year

      ex :

     7, 8 and 9/8/2015: climat and atmosphere of planets

     5, 6, 7, 8 and 9/8/2016: distances in the Universe and comets
    28, 29 and 30/7/2017: exoplanets suitable for life

"look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better"
Albert Einstein

4-       Local History, Occitany

Albigensian crusade (Cathar)

History of fortified sites and castra

Albi and Castres cities

Jean Jaures

Black Mountain WWII maquis

Occitan, language of the troubadours

 Ruins of the Castle of Lastours

5-       Introduction to viticulture & oenology

Gaillac wines

French vineyards and wines

European vineyards and wines

World vineyards and wines

6-       Introduction to photography

Shooting & printing in black and white argentic photography

       Shooting and digital treatment

       Infographics

7-        Introduction to bow and crossbow

8-        Introduction to medieval fencing

9-   Mountain bike trails

      1 MB for children, 1MB  for teenager, 1 MB for adult,  to borrow

      - La Capelette

      - Le Pas du Sant

      - Contrast

10- Hiking trails

      Le tour du Cerf (easy)

      Le moulin foulon (very easy)

      Le balcon du haut Sant (easy)

      La Capelette (easy)

      Contrast (easy)

Creek trail

Some more difficult trails are also available for trained teenagers and adults.    
For all forest, geological and hiking trails, hiking shoes are needed.
For the Creek trail, plastic boots are needed. 

And so many more hikes around: https://www.tourisme-tarn.com/uk/

11- Restauration of old objects and furniture

12- Pyrography



Note about pictures:
I am shooting most of the pictures posted on this blog, otherwise the name of the author is always mentioned.
They are shot with two Sony cameras (Cyber-shot G or Cyber-shot Rx100III).
They are on-the-spot and subject neither to any change of the nature around nor to treatment with Photoshop except for some of them which have been cropped.  When pictures modified with Photoshop are posted it will be mentioned.