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| Silvery Bryum (Bryum argenteum) |
For evidence of how little we use the car – and how infrequently we wash it – you need look no further than the window "sill" on the passenger side. Sheltered from the summer sun by a thick Leyland Cypress hedge (and from the winter sun by the bulk of the house), it provides a perfect substrate for a diminutive carpet of Silvery Bryum (Bryum argenteum). Mike got these closeup portraits of the spiky little moss with its distinctively silvery tipped lobes. This widespread species is said to be one of the most recognisable of Britain's mosses, and is one of the most common in urban areas. It forms compact patches less than 1 cm (about a half-inch) high, typically appearing quite "shiny" and always showing those silvery tips. Tolerant of high-nutrient substrates, it cohabitates well with humans, regularly growing in places such as pavement cracks, railway lines, stone walls, roofs, tarmac, arable fields and path edges. In the "wild", it also grows on regularly disturbed ground, such as sand dunes and eroding river banks or cliffs. It's found around the world, from the cities of Europe and North America to the vast deserts of Australia and the frigid plains of Antarctica – quite a hardy and adaptable little plant!
