Re: Amano at the convention and "the moss"

[Steven Olson <stevenkentolson@yahoo.com>]

I would be happy to pay a modest, dare I say cheap,
amount for a video(s) of the presentations.

                           Steve

--- James Purchase <jppurchase@Home.com> wrote:
> > > I see the logic behind the AGA position. Loh
> wants to send me a bunch of
> > > Christmas moss .........
> 
> > You can
> > probably even write anything you want in the
> "name" field......
> 
> 
> Erik, it might be interesting to ask Amano (through
> his interpreter) just
> exactly what the scientific name of that "moss" is,
> how he determined it,
> and where it comes from. I don't care _what_ people
> call it as a common
> name, but it doesn't have the same growth pattern of
> any Fontinalis or
> Vesicularia I have ever seen.
> 
> It IS a very beautiful little moss, and it deserves
> to be in wider
> distribution - Loh is to be commended for sending it
> out to so many people.
> I have been searching on the Internet for days
> looking for identity "keys"
> to the various Fontinalis and Vesicularia species,
> and although I have found
> several, they usually only go to the Genus level and
> every site seems to
> make reference to the fact that you need a
> microscope to be able to
> positively identify many mosses to the species level
> and it REALLY helps to
> know where the moss was originally collected from.
> The Genus Vesicularia has
> a much more restricted range that the Genus
> Fontinalis and they are even
> placed by scientists in different Orders (Fontinalis
> is in the Order
> Brayles, while Vesicularia is in the Order
> Hypnobrales).
> 
> Additionally, Fontinalis antipyretica is
> cosmopolitan in distribution and
> there are many subspecies in different countries.
> Knowing where the plants
> originated could help with a more positive ID. While
> the Genus Vesicularia
> is found in both North and South America, no
> occurences of V. dubyana have
> been recorded here and even the sole recorded
> occurance of V. amphibola is
> noted by Crum as probably an exotic collected in a
> greenhouse or nursery.
> 
> Claus Christensen thinks that it is a variant of V.
> dubyana, but his
> attempts to have a scientist identify it were not
> successful.
> 
> Since Amano makes such frequent use of the plant,
> maybe he has access to
> information that we don't. It certainly can't hurt
> to ask.
> 
> James Purchase
> Toronto
> 
> P.S. - Has any thought/discussion been given to
> videotaping the various
> lectures at the conference and then selling the
> tapes through the AGA? It
> would be a big boost for those who will be unable to
> get to it in person.
> 
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