Plantwatch: goblin's gold luminous moss continues to captivate
Schistostega pennata can grow into huge colonies in the dark and carpet caves in glowing green light
Paul Simons
Wed 19 Jan 2022 01.00 EST
Goblin's gold illuminates a cave near Orvieto in Italy. Schistostega pennata moss has tiny 'lenses' within its structure that make it highly reflective. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy
There are caves where ethereal golden-green lights glow on the ground like emeralds. These light displays are from a luminous moss called Schistostega pennata, known as goblin’s gold, a name that conjures up legends of cave-dwelling creatures. But in daylight, the magical green glow vanishes.
The moss is superbly adapted to life in the dark. When its spores germinate they grow filaments that fan out, scavenging for any faint light they can find. Cells on the surface of the moss are covered with tiny lenses that focus any dim light deep down into the bottom of the cells where chloroplasts move around to harvest any pinpricks of light.
The fluorescent green glow of the moss comes from the chloroplasts as they absorb most of the light but reflect green light, while some of the light focused inside the cell is also reflected out.
The moss can grow into huge colonies in the dark and cover cave floors in a luminous green light. And by growing in dark places, it gains a huge advantage by avoiding competition with other plants that cannot survive in such dingy light.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/19/plantwatch-goblins-gold-luminous-moss-schistostega-pennata-caves-glowing-green-light
~ ~ ~
Schistostega pennata, also called goblin's gold, elfin gold, dragon's gold, luminous moss, or luminescent moss. its ability to reflect light allows it to grow in shady places that other plants cannot survive. "gleams like a cat's eye from within the permanent twilight of geologic shade, that unearthly sparkling plant that needs but the briefest sliver of light each day to sparkle like glory forever." (signature of all things)
Wikimedia Foundation avatar link
Wikimedia Foundation
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/447897125420988315/
~ ~ ~
