What is the difference between mosses and lichens

Products containing iron in the form of ferrous sulfate or ferrous ammonium sulfate may somewhat control it. Unlike lichen, moss not only grows in polluted air, but also can act as an inexpensive way to detect the presence of heavy metals in the air.

People studying moss in Portland, Oregon, found heavy concentrations of cadmium and arsenic present in the moss of two neighborhoods containing glass factories. Glassmaking produces cadmium and arsenic as byproducts. The air quality tests showed 50 times the normal level of cadmium and times the accepted levels of arsenic. Instead of removing the moss from your problem area, try turning it into a moss garden instead. You already know moss thrives there. A: Bittersweet vines Celastrus scandens are either male or female.

Only the female plants produce flowers, which in turn become berries. Try planting one male plant for every three female plants, situated in full sun. Q: A gardening friend gave me some money plant seeds. A: Give it another year. Money plant Lunaria annua , an herbaceous biennial, blooms the second year. Your email address will not be published. The symbiotic nature of lichen was not fully understood until the 19th century, when the idea was first proposed.

They form a fascinating example of cooperative relationships in nature, with the fungus using the algae or bacteria to produce energy, while the algae or bacteria enjoys the protection the fungus provides. These organisms reproduce in several ways. Many produce spores that attempt to capture partner algae or bacteria, while others reproduce through fragments of the lichen that break off and scatter. They can grow almost anywhere in the world, from extremely acidic soil to freezing arctic conditions, and are found growing on trees, rocks, and everything in between.

Contrary to popular belief, the lichens that colonize trees, such as members of the Usnia family, are not harmful to their hosts, and in fact, they often capture valuable nutrients.

Lichens take three forms. Crustose lichens, often found growing on rocks, are characterized by a crusty appearance. They are often vividly colored and create the bright streaks seen on rocks from a distance. They decay and become soil organic matter. Viva Differences. Moss Moss refers to small, flowerless, green plant which lacks true roots, growing in low carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats and reproducing by means of spores releasing from stalked capsules.

Mosses are typically soft and grow in dark, damp places like a rock in an intermittent stream or on the floor of a damp wooded area. Lichens grow in all sort of climates and on all sort of things from trees, gravestones, metal poles to rocks and are characterized by a crusty appearance.

Lichens can be in various colors such as pale grayish green, brown, red, orange, yellow, white etc. Does not create disc-shaped fruiting bodies. The mosses are primitive plants; they do not have roots and do not produce flowers. Instead of roots to anchor them in place, they have very shallow root-like structures referred to as rhizoids. The formation of lichen involves one or multiple fungi and algae or cyanobacteria. Mosses sends out spores or can reproduce when one part of the moss breaks off and lands in an appropriate place for growth.

Lichens reproduce either through the production of spores like most other fungi or can sometimes reproduce when fragments of the tough, bark-like structure break off and fall on an appropriate surface. Baby tooth moss, pincushion moss, mood moss, plume moss, water screw moss, glittering wood moss, juniper moss, rigid beard moss etc.

The crusty flat, crustose lichens, the patchy, powdery, leprose lichens, the circular Foliose lichen and the shrub-like fruticose lichen.