tags: Max-Planck Institut für Biophysik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Moosblüten, flowers, nature, environment, image of the day
I was walking around at the Max-Planck Institute today, enjoying the spring weather and saw these tiny moss flowers growing in the lawn. The grass has not yet awoken, but the moss was happily growing on the moist earth. I wish you were here with me today, to see these tiny flowers with me.
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I'm not sure what they are, but they're definitely not moss - moss is a non-flowering plant! You can see the male reproductive organ of some species of moss at the tip of the normal growth, and many have spore capsules held up well above the rest of the plant. Those little white jobs are very pretty, but they are definitely flowers.
It's a flowering plant, an Angiosperm. A yellow spicy paste can be made from one of it's relatives in the same family, and it's a close relative of a model organism ^^
This would be actually a good mystery plant to identify, to the family level. The specific marks that identify it are well visible, but it is also made harder, because it seems to have 8 petals per blossom, while there are only 4.
It looks like Sagina subulata, commonly called Irish Moss.
Yes, this "colorless" early spring plant grows in New York State too, but not commonly.
Sagina is in this family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caryophyllaceae and has 5 petals.
I think the mossay part is an actual moss. The leafy rosettes belong to the flowering plant.
Definitely a member of the mustard family, 4 petals, 6 stamens (4 long, 2 short), perhaps Draba verna.
Love the way your readers with their brilliant minds chime in!
tabor: yes, me too! i love learning more about the natural world around me from those who know ..