Moss - specific plant species which often lives not on the soil, and on other types of surfaces, for example, bark of trees or even stones. At the same time the moss has the features of distribution.
Growth of a moss
In spite of the fact that the moss belongs to the category of the higher plants, it usually looks rather imperceptible against the background of other vegetation. Unlike most of other inhabitants of the woods, it has no flowers and roots, and length of this plant ordinary is 1-3 centimeters and seldom exceeds 5 centimeters.
At the same time, however, the moss is very unpretentious and able to survive in enough extreme climatic and an environment, including, for example, the droughty or shaded area. Thanks to it and also lack of the created root system, the moss can extend not only on the earth, but also on other surfaces in the forest, including trunks of trees.
Settling on trunks of trees, the moss ordinary shows specific features of distribution. So, in most cases it appears on North side of a trunk. This feature even formed the basis of one of the signs extended among hunters, fishers and other people who rather often are in the wild nature. They claim that, having looked at a tree trunk on which the moss grows, it is possible to define unmistakably where there is a North, so and to establish position of other parts of the world. It can be useful in case the person got lost in the forest and looks for a possibility of an exit from a thicket.
Growth reasons
The fact is that, despite the unpretentiousness, the moss nevertheless has certain preferences concerning conditions of growth and in case he can prefer more favorable conditions, he chooses them. At the same time in fact the moss loves shady and damp places and badly transfers the open sun. In turn, North side of a tree trunk, as a rule, the most part of day is in a shadow, only occasionally getting in the sun. Therefore mosses prefer to grow on this part of a tree. However in case comfortable conditions for a moss are created otherwise, it can quite change the traditional habitat. So, in a dense thicket where the sun practically never gets, the moss can cover a tree trunk from all directions, and not just from northern. Besides, the humidity in the place of growth of a moss is of great importance. So, for example, if for that area where it grows, the air flows with the high level of humidity going from the East are characteristic, the moss will lodge on east part of a trunk. If the tree has an inclination as a result of which rain water flows down on one of the parties of a trunk, exactly there, most likely, and the moss will grow. Therefore, intending to determine parts of the world by the place of concentration of a moss, it is worth paying attention and to other factors which could affect the place of its growth.