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Identifying moss

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So after recently acquiring some moss named as a particular type and passing it on to a fellow enthusiast. It has been pointed out by several well known plant collectors that this moss was NOT the moss I was told it was!

Does anyone know how or where I can get moss positivity identified?

Edited by inverted

Flick some photos up here, we'll all argue over what is what for you, haha.

  • Author

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What I really want to know is who is best qualified to id moss ? 

Your local University would be the best bet I would think, not sure what the process would be or who to contact though.

Edited by JacksonL

I'd say one of the plants nuts on here would be able to ID them no worries, sadly I am not one of them, ha.

Yeah, Uni would be a great place, I guess you could email your closest Uni, or perhaps ask to speak to someone who could perhaps help.

Looks like Peacok Moss to me?

  • Author

Im almost positive it's weeping moss..... But you can never 100% without a scientific ID

Looks like willow moss

Looks like Kate Moss to me.

No, it's not a Taxiphyllum so definitely not Peacock. It's definitely not Willow which is very distinctive too. Inverted could be on the money; time will tell. It's probably one of the Vesicularia. 

What moss was it supposed to be? Where did it come from? I'd chase down those answers to start with. You'll probably have to grow it for some time in a range of conditions to confirm its habit and general appearance. That will help too. There are websites with microscope pics of many standard aquarium mosses and if you check yours under magnification and then get lucky you'll pin it down. 

As far as real scientific ID goes you're out of luck. No respectable botanist would ID a plant without any collection data attached. What country is this particular moss native to? It's a big world. Considering the recent proliferation of illegally imported aquarium mosses that were probably never identified at collection, given a dodgy trade name and then distributed throughout the world, we may never know. Now there's also plenty of unidentified natives in people's tanks too and some of these are very similar to foreign mosses. Your only hope is that you can match it up to an existing named form in someone else's tank. 

Weeping moss 

as I only kept weeping and pearl moss in the tank it came from 

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