this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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I find it fascinating, but also a little unsettling, that I can moss leaves are one cell thick but I can still see them with the naked eye.

There's a whole world down there, that i never really thought about until a week ago.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Eggs are also single cells visible to the naked eye.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

great news for fans of forbidden foods: it's edible!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you are talking about like, chicken eggs - no they are not. There is a single cell, the actual fertilized egg from which new life will grow, that is inside what we call an "egg" that we buy, which is protection and nutrients.

It's kind of like the seed of a plant, which is also not just a single cell, but a nutrient carrier for initial development.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 weeks ago

So most of the cell is tasty food, what of it?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ologies podcast did an episode on moss and it made me fall in love with the world of bryology! Its a fantastic episode of a fantastic show, highly recommend.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Cool! Subscribed!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I've never seen a moss like this, but apparently it's a thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiomnium_affine

I thought one of the characteristic features of moss was that it didn't have vascular stems.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ah HA, you've fallen for the same trap i did. The veins in leaves are actually described as "vein-like" and are purely structural. Likewise, the stems are structural, mosses are non-vascular

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

You learn something new every day!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Moss is neat!

I strongly recommend you (or anyone really) read (or listen to) Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The audiobook is narrated by the author, and without hearing it I genuinely don't think I would have had the same appreciation for the incredible diversity of mosses and other small plants that were in the field I live by this year.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

i'm not a book person, but Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses is a really nice read!