Funaria hygrometrica

When and how do I photograph moss so it can be identified?

The dominant feature in this photo is the mass of immature, green spore capsules on strongly twisted stalks. Now to your question, Mike. You could say that there are two parts to a moss - the vegetative part (consisting of stems with leaves) and the sporing part (consisting of a spore-producing capsule). That capsule may be produced at the end of a stalk that grows out from the vegetative part or it may be stalkless. The capsule starts off green and turns some shade of brown when mature. Ideally, get photos of the vegetative part as well as photos of immature and mature capsules. Also, take a drawn back photo to show something of the surrounds and what the moss is growing on - or make a note of it if you're not sure a photo will show things clearly. All that is the ideal, not always achievable. For example, some mosses produce spore capsules very rarely. Even with an ideal set of photos an identification may not be possible, since the recognition of many species relies on features that won't show in a photo. On the other hand, there are mosses which are identifiable without all those ideal photos (and Funaria hygrometrica is one such species). As to when to photograph them - that varies. In some species the spore capsules hang around for ages, in other species no. I hope these comments are not too vague, but let me know if anything is unclear or if you have any other question.