Posted by Wayne Kimbel on December 12, 2006

Q: I volunteer at a local nature center. One of the things I would like to pursue is a much more in depth knowledge base in this subject. I have found general background material but nothing in the form of a usable field guide for the US midwest, east and mid-south regions. There especially seems to be a dearth of material on mosses, except for the Pacific Northwest, or perhaps the UK.

If you have any ideas or suggestions, I would appreciate assistance. Thanks in advance

State: Indiana

A: I hear you loud and clear! You're right, there are not many good resources for mosses and liverworts. My guess is that there isn't much of a market for a field guide to mosses so no one has put much effort there. I certainly don't have any although I do have a couple of very old books that deal with the subject.

I went online to Amazon and found a few books that "might" help a bit but these are not field guides. Take a look at these and see if one would help.

How to Know the Mosses & Liverworts by Henry Shoemaker Conard, Paul L Redfearn, John Bamrick, and Edward T Cawley (Spiral-bound - Jun 1, 1979

Moss Gardening: Including Lichens, Liverworts and Other Miniatures by George H. Schenk (Hardcover - Mar 1, 1997) - Illustrated

Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of

Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Paperback - Mar 2003)—

That first book might be more what you're looking for. Sorry I can't be more helpful. I'll check with another naturalist here and see what he thinks. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( December 12, 2006)

A: Wayne,

John is right, there does not seem to be much call for field guides to mosses and lichens. A couple of guides you should have are:

How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts, 2nd Edition by Henry Conard, revised by Paul Redfearn, Jr. and How to Know the Lichens, 2nd Ed. by Mason Hale. They're in the Pictured Key Nature Series by WCB/McGraw Hill.

I also suggest you send an e-mail to the publishers of The American Midland Naturalist, ammidnat@nd.edu, at University of Notre Dame. That journal has been published for almost 100 years and you may be able to find some good literature on mosses and lichens there. Good luck.

Mark Baldwin ( December 12, 2006)