The peristome teeth of Ptychomnion aciculare even closer up. Slowly changing focus always feels like a cinematic deep dive through layers of an alien world with ever new horizons. I can honestly get lost in this for hours. What do you see?

This is a sporophyte of the moss Ptychomnion aciculare. I've always loved these tiny capsules containing moss spores but seeing them under the microscope left me in awe. Sporophytes have humidity sensitive peristome teeth that keep the spores in the capsule. They open when dry, releasing the spores.

Pleurozium schreberi, Sweden 2023 - also called the red-stemmed feather moss. The leaves are quite oval with a blunt tip and very concave so that the stem is wrapped tightly. The last photo of leaf cells, reminded me of a mosaic. It fractured cleanly along the seams, leaving each moss cell intact.

A leaf of the moss Ptychomnion aciculare - the pipe-cleaner moss. Collected in New Zealand in 2024. I love the needle-like leaf tip (also called acumen) of Ptychomnion aciculare, but the most beautiful feature are these elegant folds that almost look like thin fabric caught in the wind.

Zoom in through the dense layered leaves and find the midrib of each leaf that extends beyond the tip (also called excurrent nerve). Here we also find tiny teeth and sharp edges that may help to catch moisture and endure the endless swings between wet and dry in a temperate rainforest.

Sciadocladus menziesii, another beautiful umbrella moss collected in Aotearoa New Zealand in January 2024.

More generally, species like Hypopterygium are also called Umbrella Moss. Under the microscope we can quickly see that the leaves are unusually arranged with lateral rows and a smaller ventral row. The leaves themselves also look incredibly beautiful with cells forming a spikey structure.

In January 2024, I came across Hypopterygium in Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time. This moss species will always look like a tiny palm tree to me when seeing the shoots (see my profile banner photo).

This is the feathery bogmoss Sphagnum cuspidatum. Collected in Sweden during November 2025. The first photo really highlights the hidden architecture that lets peat mosses and wetlands hold water. (It's also called the toothed feather moss for obvious reasons - it has cute toothed leaf tips!)

It also included a tiny wiggly friend (probably a little nematode), which made me very happy.

The blunt-leaved bogmoss Sphagnum palustre as seen under the microscope in monochrome. Collected during October 2025 in Denmark.

Beautiful cells of an unknown moss species that I found growing within the pavement on my way to the lab.