Look at that piece of green "wild vegetables", I really want to dig some and eat them!

Recently, there was a scene in a self-driving travel variety show "Star Chasers". When several guests were walking through the quiet woods, one guest was deeply attracted by the fresh and green moss on the roadside and even wanted to taste it.

Image from: "Star Chaser"

Many viewers even shouted in the barrage area that they wanted to help them fulfill their "wish" and try the moss to see if it was delicious. It seems that these lush mosses have aroused the hearts of foodies.

Eat it? No, and you don't have to.

Moss looks cute, but if you think about it carefully, it is usually found on dark and humid stone walls, ground or tree surfaces. These places are often the best environment for breeding various bacteria, fungi and other pathogenic microorganisms.

So if you take a bite of raw moss, you may not only be eating moss, but it may also carry a large number of pathogenic microorganisms.

A moss and bacteria on its surface under a 400x microscope. Image from: dreamstime

So if we pick the moss, wash it, or even cook it, can we eat it?

You can imagine how difficult it would be to pick moss with your fingers.

Moss plants include three major branches: mosses, lichens and hornworts. They are a group of small plants with a very simple structure. They have no differentiated roots, stems or leaves. Even after digging for dozens of minutes, it is hard to tell whether there is more soil or more mosses.

Large area but small volume of moss on the soil, picture from: dreamstime

The vegetables we usually eat are generally the roots, stems, leaves or fruits, which are often the parts where the plants grow vigorously and accumulate nutrients.

Mosses reproduce through spores. They have no differentiation of true roots and vascular tissues and have very little nutrient reserves, so they have basically no edible value.

The pseudo-leaf structure of a moss. Image from: disjunctnaturalists

At the same time, some mosses themselves have some anti-feedant properties. They produce some polyphenols or terpenoid compounds, which make themselves very unpalatable, so that even insects and animals dislike them.

In addition, some species may be toxic to a certain extent. For example, plants of the Auriculariaceae family may cause severe contact dermatitis.

Moss, lichen, can't tell the difference

There are about 23,000 species of mosses in the world, and more than 2,800 species in China.

When it comes to the biodiversity of mosses, we are actually still constantly updating our understanding. It is much more difficult to identify moss species than other plants, and the related physiological, ecological and genomic research is not so mature.

Some people may think that they have eaten moss before. It is very likely that it is a creature very similar to moss - lichen.

Under natural growth conditions, there is a large overlap in the ecological niches of mosses and lichens. The environments they prefer are very similar, so they tend to grow together, but they are two completely different organisms.

Lichen, image from: PPBC

Moss is called a plant because it has chloroplasts and can "feed itself" through photosynthesis under light. Lichens, which can be used as food, are a stable and mutually beneficial symbiotic association between fungi and photosynthetic organisms (green algae or cyanobacteria). Their morphology and reproduction of offspring depend on fungi. It can be said that it is a special type of specialized fungus, which is very different from moss.

Lichens are rich in protein, as well as nutrients such as carbohydrates, calcium, iron, iodine, alginate, etc. They have very little fat and are known as a "lean mountain delicacy."

Scientists have found that lichen contains a substance that can inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase in the human brain, thus having a therapeutic effect on Alzheimer's disease. However, it is a very cold food, so people with spleen and stomach deficiency and diarrhea should not eat too much.

In addition to being eaten, moss has great significance

Today, the number of bryophyte species is second only to angiosperms among existing land plants.

The Earth can exist without people, but it cannot exist without mosses. Mosses appeared 430 million years ago and are the earliest plants that came to land from the sea.

After the emergence of terrestrial plants, the oxygen released by their photosynthesis provided favorable conditions for the subsequent landing of various organisms.

Moss fossil, image from: fossilera

In addition to the supply of oxygen, the early land was mostly rocky rather than soil, which was not conducive to the growth of organisms.

Mosses themselves can secrete a liquid that can slowly dissolve the surface of rocks, promoting accelerated weathering of rocks. Together with dead mosses, they accelerate the formation of soil.

Alpine moss in Nelson Lakes National Park. Image courtesy: wildernessphotographs

With oxygen and soil, mosses can even provide water at critical moments. They can absorb moisture from rain and even fog, storing excess rainwater to prevent flooding and soil erosion.

Therefore, except for areas with harsh conditions, in places with lush vegetation, such as cloud forests, they act like sponges, providing a 'reservoir' for the forest and groundwater.

To this day, mosses, as an essential part of the ecosystem, still play an important pioneering role in various barren lands and disturbed secondary habitats, especially in maintaining soil and water in alpine ecosystems.

Moss on the Antarctic ice sheet, image from: antarctica

The trend of growing moss

Many bonsai enthusiasts are familiar with moss. After some care, the inconspicuous moss will be integrated into the exquisite landscape and add a touch of bright color to it.

In recent years, mosses have become the darling of landscaping in aquariums, grass tanks, rainforest tanks, etc., because they are not only affordable and easy to cultivate, but also highly ornamental.

Moss planted in a tank. Image from: plantedtank

In fact, you can raise some mosses at home, use your imagination, and make some micro landscapes. Or you can match them with various plants, which can not only increase the ornamental effect, but also promote and protect each other.

If you have some moisture-loving plants at home, you can dig some moss and spread it on the surface of the flowerpot. Let the moss adhere to the surface of the soil. It can not only retain water, but also has a certain heat preservation effect. Even in the cold winter, the plants will not be frostbitten.

Moss in a flowerpot, image from: dhgate

Moss maintenance is very simple. It likes a humid environment. Spray it with water every day. If there is insufficient water, it will easily turn yellow and dry. When growing moss, remember not to use soil. You need to use expanded clay or large particles of sand to avoid water accumulation.

At the same time, moss is a plant that cannot tolerate direct sunlight. It can be grown in a bright or dim environment, but the sun can easily cause the moss to turn yellow.

Landscape series made of moss, even if it is just a small world created in a bottle, pot or jar, often have a sense of nature. Now, have you fallen in love with this "dwarf" among plants?

END

Review expert: Xia Xiaofei, Executive Director and Deputy Secretary-General of Beijing Botanical Society

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Xiao Xitushuo