Town and garden mosses guide
WildID Town and garden mosses is a beginner-friendly guide to mosses and liverworts in British and Irish cities.
- Identification guide to 6 liverworts and 18 mosses found in built-up areas in Britain and Ireland
- Includes photographs of each species plus concise notes to help identification
- Practical for use outdoors: lightweight, rucksack-sized, splash-proof
Mosses and liverworts may be small, but they are mighty. These fascinating plants form a huge and vital part of our ecosystems, helping to stabilise soil, retain moisture and cycle nutrients. Overall there are around 25,000 species worldwide, with around 1000 species in Britain and Ireland. Towns and gardens are a great place to look. Typically mosses and liverworts grow almost anywhere that is a little cool and damp, including bricks, tarmac, lawns and plant pots.
Yet for many naturalists and wildlife enthusiasts, mosses and liverworts remain a bit of a mystery. They can seem tricky to get to grips with, as they lack showy flowers or familiar features of other plants. It is easy to feel overwhelmed.
So where do you start? This beginner-friendly guide offers a gentle introduction. Drawing on years of experience as a field teacher, the author has handpicked a select group of species, all easy to find around towns, and all possible to identify with just a hand lens.
You will get to know seven common liverworts, including Great Scented Liverwort, Bifid Crestwort and Forked Veilwort. You will also discover some of the most recognisable mosses, such as Wall Screw-moss and Bonfire-moss. This guide keeps technical terms to a minimum and focuses on living plants in the field.
