One often sees microscopic fibres in moss samples, unfortunately.

Nice to find good material of a tiny fungus, Bryobroma caudatum, on the liverwort Diplophyllum albicans yesterday. The fungus produces tiny fruitbodies up to only 75 microns diam. and spores with little tails. The distinctive mycelium forms a network over the host cell walls without killing them.

#PlantScienceClassics #20: Kinetin & Cytokinins. In 1955 Carlos Miller, Folke Skoog & co-workers describe the first #Cytokinin and its role in promoting cell division and growth promotion. #Phytohormones #PlantScience #PlantDevelopment pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1... pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Ever wondered how the #cuticle, a hallmark of land plants, was established? In our latest study, we show that the CUTIN SYNTHASE enzyme family was a key driver of this evolutionary innovation. #plantscience ▶️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... A thread 🧵 [1/8]

We sequenced the genome of 'desert ginseng' (Cistanche deserticola) - a leafless parasitic plant that gave up photosynthesis - and found it lost huge chunks of its own genome…but started stealing genes from its host! Thanks to my collaborators Prof Huang + her talented team👏🏻 lnkd.in/evF5iU9G

Our new experimental evolution study across 30+ locations using the plant Arabidopsis thaliana —— we direct "see" adaptation and extinction to different climates at the genetic as it happens! Read it in Science dx.doi.org/10.1126/scie... @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social

A return visit to the Llyn peninsula for a ten day mossing Sesh, Saturday was back at Mynydd Tir-y Cwmwd were last year i discovered a new site for the nationally Scarce liverwort Cephaloziella dentata (toothed Threadwort) here it is amongst Cladonia @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Nice to find Riccia beyrichiana (Purple Crystalwort) on Saturday at Mynydd Tir-y Cwmwd,a new site for it on the Llyn Peninsula,a lovely chunky Riccia and in good amounts,nice @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Entosthodon attenuatus (Thin Chord-moss) on wet peaty soil on Mynydd Tir-y Cwmwd on Saturday,nice to see fruiting nicely , lovely cherry-red Rhyzoids on this species,I didn't look at those as only this patch so left alone @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Philinotis rigida (Rigid Apple-moss) at Mynydd Tir-y Cwmwd on Saturday, Spherical Capsules on a long Setae,a moss of wet Cliffs and river banks ,always nice to cast an eye over @bbsbryology.bsky.social

#Fernfriday While visiting a tropical greenhouse, I observed the abaxial surface of the fertile pinnae of Niphidium crassifolium, revealing globular sori that consist of an array of minute leptosporangia.

Please RP 🕊️: Postdoc position in my budding group at OIST. Looking for a colleague to work at the interface of chloroplast biology, evo-devo, and synthetic biology. More info here 📃: www.oist.jp/careers/post...

Cladonia lichen (Cladonia amaurocraea, I think). NWT, Canada. The photo covers about 5cm, left to right. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends

Mycena chloroxantha photographed recently in Oxapampa, Peru. The round cells are cherocytes which make up the universal veil - whitish, spiny acanthocytes are also visible. Described in 1983 from Brazil by Rolf Singer. Mushroom Observer # 628987 / iNat 341877230 #fungifriends #mycology #mycena

Now found in 5 Irish counties as of yesterday from Cos. Louth/Armagh and this marks the first for the east coast! Phenologically has been recorded In July, September, October and March #fungifriends #ireland #bryology #liverwort

The #nonseedUK26 meeting will be held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh on 15th December 2026. Please save the date. Further details will follow 😃

Stacking with raw and 4-pixel shift. The images blow my mind - the process, shooting, stacking and developing from raw, is slow - - Probably not what I will be doing regularly. Lichen people: Do you have ideas how to use such images to add value? drive.google.com/file/d/1a2gS...

Also it was good to see that the legally protected Paralecanographa grumulosa is still present on the north and east side of Winterton church. A parasite of Dirina massiliensis.

This is an amazing record if this rare fungi that is closely linked to temperate rainforest. Not before observed in the SE of Ireland!! Wow

New site record of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense for Co. Louth (H31) growing in a rocky woodland on a minor hill. Happy to find this one today. A very scarce species in the county. @bsbiireland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #ferns #botany #filmyferns

POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success

First record of large leafy liverwort Bazzania trilobata for co Derry (H40) since 1834! Also growing alongside it was Hymenophyllum tunbrigense which is a new county site too. Ness Country Park, Co. Derry. @bsbiireland.bsky.social @bbsbryology.bsky.social #bryophytes #ferns #botany

A final micrograph for today showing mycelium of an Epibryon sp. fungus inside liverwort cells. Most cells are infected but some in the lower part of the photo are healthy, as evidenced by the absence of hyphae and the presence of oil bodies.

Micrograph of a rhizoid gall caused by a chytrid on Bryum moss. The infected cell contains several zoosporangia, some of which have thread-like exit tubes that release flagellated spores. Chytrids are interesting fungi that mostly lack hyphae and have mobile spores.

Great to find the fungus Bryobroma scapaniae on Scapania undulata in Bannau Brycheiniog in Wales a few days ago. I think this is the third ever record of the species, and I see how it is very easy to miss, with the dark fruitbodies disguised against the black host stem. From a rock in a stream.

An opportunity of a lifetime for budding lichenologists. The National Trust and the Royal Botanics, Edinburgh are offering a PAID lichen traineeship in #Scotland! The work programme looks fascinating and a great opportunity to develop skills. Deadline: 3/10/2025. www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...

Thanks, Jill! It was an unexpected honour and it has been amazing to see how my cohort has grown and developed over the years. Now, for the final push! @gpsep.bsky.social

Using one of my favourite bryophyte books to help with my thesis. It is a difficult read, densely packed with all kinds of interesting and almost forgotten information. I must have read it half a dozen times, and each time, I notice something profound that I either missed or didn't understand before

"PhD-level experts in your back pocket" is a completely nonsensical description of AI but a pretty good description of social media if you follow the right people

It's publication day for Mosses, Liverworts and Hornworts of the World! Immerse yourself in the miniature world of these fascinating plants, delve into their evolutionary past and look ahead to what might be in store for their future. More details at: shorturl.at/Zmtfe

Petoskey stone is a fossil coral and Michigan's state stone. This is from the Devonian Rockport quarry north of Alpena. Most Petoskey stone is found on the beach and rounded smooth. #FossilFriday

It was nice to go for a run past the spot that got me interested in bryophytes 10 years ago when I was staying at my grandfather's place. I was struck by the outerwordly appearance of the liverwort Conocephalum conicum, which was completely covering the wall of this bridge back then.

Happy to announce a new species bryophilous fungus, Bryocentria insolens. It is a parasite of Orthotrichaceae and known from Switzerland and Belgium so far. Thanks to my coauthors for finding great specimens - it all started from an AscoFrance post over 2 years ago. pfsyst.botany.pl/-Bryocentria...

New Article: "Ordovician marine Charophyceae and insights into land plant derivations" rdcu.be/eoSkA Marine Charophyceae fossils from the Upper Ordovician confirm that morphological innovations key to the evolution of terrestrial flora predate emergence of land plants.

phases of the dandelion

SoftAlign: End-to-end protein structures alignment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.09.653096v1

It is out! CLAVATA in moss: not only meristems! Big thanks to @jillharrison.bsky.social , @ilichenmoss2.bsky.social and @newphyt.bsky.social

Read & RP. New preprint by Alex Gavrin from his time in our team - Inactivation of Medicago Glucan binding protein 1 (GBP1) offers: An approach to enhance symbiotic nitrogen fixation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The fungi that grow on bryophyte (moss) sporophytes are usually completely different to those on gametophytes. One feature is less apparent specificity in many, where generalists can grow on decaying vascular plants and "woody" moss sporophytes. This is a spore of Pleospora cf. herbarum ... 1/2

[🚨Pre-print alert🚨] Excited to share our findings on the enigmatic ericoid mycorrhizal symbiosis. 🔴For the first time we provide evidence that ericoid mycorrhizae evolved from ancestral arbuscular mycorrhizae through the co-option nutrient-dependent regulation 👇! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Leafy liverwort genomes shed light on the evolution of ericoid symbiosis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.01.646537v1

Amazing flower variation in Ficaria verna!

Some of the Ficaria verna weirdos flowering in the garden today

Another preprint! I was privileged to be asked to be involved with this project. Well done to everyone, particularly the first author, Hannah McConnell of Veronica di Stilio's lab at UW, who's tenacity and hard work really shines through 🙂 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #Plantscience #Fern #LEAFY

A hornwort, Phaeoceros laevis, I think, on a seepage. Lovely to see the plant is still abundant at the site.

1/6 Super excited to share with you our work on Marchantia intra-specific diversity and pan-genomics, just out @naturegenet.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Everything on the discoveries in the thread by @chloe-beaulieu.bsky.social I want to emphasize 5 additional points:

Nice to find a patch of the bryophilous fungus Luteodiscus epibryus on Lepidozia reptans last weekend. It is a lovely species to keep an eye out for on bryophyte-covered rotting wood, especially on liverworts like Nowellia. It has an unusually wide host range, including mosses and liverworts.

Bryoscyphus dicrani on Ceratodon purpureus. It is probably not very rare, but this was the first time I saw it. Found on Christmas Day last year. Neat little thing.

Great to see a bryophilous fungus, Bryonectria cuneifera, which lives between the lamellae of leaves of the moss Polytrichum formosum. This species has evaded me for nearly 8 years so glad to finally find it.

Two moss patches with bleached areas that harbour fungal fruitbodies. Not all such patches have fungi but they are a good indication that something is not quite right with the moss.