FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

There used to be an old watershed pond on the north side of our property...manmade (grandfather had the dam built probably around 1955 or so). It has been twenty-five years since I've been back there and decided to walk there yesterday. One thing I found out is that I'm not 12 years old anymore!!!! The walk back uphill was something else!!!

Anyhow, just as I figured there wasn't much there. The old steel standpipe had rusted off and it was two mud holes. The deer were having a blast there, though, churning up the edge of the mudholes watering there. As I mentioned, it was a watershed pond...only getting its water from rain passing through a pine forest and traveling through two small "valleys" to it. I thought...there might be something interesting growing there. Well, I didn't see any sundews or anything but I did come upon these patches of mosses. I don't *think* it is sphagnum, but at the time I wasn't looking very close as I was trying to remember the number for 911 in case I needed them to come drag me out from down there.

What type moss do ya'll say this is? Sheet? Star? ???

I *might* venture back down there again...the old road has completely overgrown and it *sure* seems a lot further than it use to be, too!!!

Any ideas?

Not sphagnum, but I'm not a moss expert. I used to add assorted mosses that I found to my containers and discovered that was a bad idea.

Thanks Panman. I’m letting it lay where it grows. The old pond is dried to two small holes and the ends of its horseshoe shape are damp and marshy. I was hoping the moss might indicate an area of possible banked seeds from before the pond was built. It was not as spongy as a stand of sphagnum is.

I wonder if it would be so similar to others species that it would be hard to tell exactly which one it was. The next time I'm down there I'll try it out. Thanks for the idea, not a bad one at all!