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Mosses and Other Bryophytes

© Diana Pederson

Once in a great while, a book comes across my desk that really excites me due to it's unusual content and quality. Mosses and Other Bryophytes: An Illustrated Glossary by Bill and Nancy Malcolm is just such a book. It was published by Micro-Optics Press and is being distributed by Timber Press beginning in 2000.

The Malcolms carefully studied the scientific literature about mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They have made every effort to use the latest terminology. Fortunately, they present alternative terms too if some controversy over appropriate terms exists. Each term is carefully defined. Many are accompanied by a full color photograph. Some of the photographs show structures that can only be viewed with a microscope. This is one of the features making this book particularly valuable for gardeners and botanists. The authors used bold type for any terms used in a definition that is defined elsewhere in the book.

Let's say, for the purpose of illustration, that an article you are reading uses the term anisosporous. You could turn to this book and find the following definition:

anisosporous --producing spores of two sizes in the same capsule (not the same as heterospory in the higher plants, which also produce spores of two sizes but in different structures). [page 13]

Now you can also look up the bold faced words to find their meanings too. This gives you a complete understanding of the original term and its definition.

I had no preconceived notions about what this book would be like when I started reading it. Normally I wouldn't want to read a book that is just a glossary. However, I have a consuming desire to learn all I can about a wide variety of plants -- including those I call non-traditional plants. The mosses certainly fit this category. I must admit, I am still not sure what a liverwort or hornwort are but, if I should come across one someday, I'll be able to understand the literature about these plants by using this glossary.

If you are one of those gardeners experimenting with unusual plants, you definitely need Mosses and Other Bryophytes: An Illustrated Glossary on your bookshelves for quick reference. The Malcolms have already acknowledged that a similar glossary for lichens is needed. I sincerely hope other writers put together glossaries of this quality (including illustrations) for other plant groups. I hope the people at Timber Press who determine what they publish will consider putting out an updated horticulture glossary book of similar quality.

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