Moss: City Green
I’ve lived within spitting distance of Albany NY for most of my life—and yet it’s a place I never go. Oh, I might go to the outskirts, the mall or the movie theater, but I rarely venture into the city itself. So the other day I decided to be a tourist and explore a bit. There are some beautiful old brownstones, and interesting shops and restaurants (a terrific Jamaican restaurant well named the Hot Spot). But as usual, I was on the lookout for plants. However, the prospects were dim for greenery—we’ve had over a foot of snow and the day I picked for my stroll was about 10 degrees with a wind...
Read MoreArt in Unexpected Places
I was driving along Livingston Avenue in downtown Albany the other day, just minding my own business, and suddenly I had the uneasy feeling that someone was watching me… And I was right… In a deserted, snowy empty lot, this painting just stares out over the neighborhood. I have no idea who this person is, or who painted the mural. It must have taken a long time, and the face has been there quite a while. You can see the bricks crumbling under the skin. I love outdoor art. Keep your eyes peeled for this one if you...
Read MoreA New Year
So for my New Year’s resolution, I have vowed to learn more about my favorite subject, and read a botany textbook. Cover to cover. Yes, indeed. I’m going to bone up on mosses and liverworts and the reproductive habits of ferns (which are amazingly kinky and involve swimming) and all the other wonders of botany. Hopefully this will be more successful than last year’s resolution involving exercise and weight loss. So I scouted my bookshelves for a botany book, and unearthed an ancient one—an old college textbook of my father’s, published two short years before I was born. And sadly, while it...
Read MoreMoss as Metaphor
A nearly manicured office building. Trimmed lawn, weeded garden, paved walkway. Not much chance for weeds to sneak in here. Except for the moss. What, you don’t see any moss? Moss–soft, green, fuzzy. It’s a plant everyone can identify, and yet no one can identify it. I once took a course on moss identification. And what you had to do to figure out which species of moss you were looking at was to detach one moss leaf. (One moss leaf. Do you know how incredibly small a single moss leaf is?) Then you had to use a razor blade to slice a cross-section of the moss leaf. Then you...
Read MoreThistle: Waiting for the Train
The Beacon train station. Waiting around for the train to New York City on a chilly damp day. It’s a long wait, and the train is running late, and the commuters are starting to grumble. Nothing to do but scout around for some interesting plant life. Over here in the rocks (which were carefully placed to keep weeds from growing) is a nice healthy cluster of thistle leaves. Not unlike commuters, thistles are aggressive and prickly. You have to be a bit prickly, to survive in a train station. Thistles have survival down to a science. They’re dandelion relatives, members of the Asteraceae,...
Read MoreMoss: True North
I took a picture of this tree at high noon. Twelve o’clock. Why? To test an old piece of wilderness lore: the belief that moss grows on the north side of trees. Does it? Or not? If you’re lost in the woods, should you look for moss on a tree trunk and set your path accordingly? Is this truth, or an old wives’ tale? Every time I walk in the woods, I conduct a highly scientific survey on this topic–I glance at tree trunks from time to time. And I have conclusively proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that moss grows on trees. But. Does it grow on one side more than on...
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