Booklet No 1 – Woodland Mosses by Harry Watson
Long planned but only now being placed onto this website this first Booklet published by the Forestry Commission was the result of a great deal of interest and work by Harry Watson. He was the long term senior instructor at Benmore Forester Training School at the time or as indicated in the text, Forest Officer Instructor. Harry Watson appears to have begun his forestry teaching career in Birnam Forestry School for returning Military Service personnel, circa 1919 to 1921, and again took up teaching this time in the Forestry Commission Forester’s School at Beaufort in 1927. When that location closed in 1929 and was replaced with Benmore Forestry School, Harry took over the lead role there and remained so until into the 1950s.
This booklet is quite a detailed step into moss recognition and the author is keen to educate the forester not only in recognising the individual species but also to alert the reader to the varying soil and ground conditions that each species tends to favour as its habitat. This would then lead to a more considered choice of tree species or number of species to grow in any particular location.
The twenty moss species, the majority of which are woodland species, selected for the book are as follows (note classifications and names may well have changed significantly since the publication in 1947):
Mnium undulatum
Mnium hornum
Eurhynchium striatum
Catherinea undulatum
Thuidium tamariscinum
Brachythecium purum
Hylocominum triquetrium
Hylocomium squarrosum
Hylocomium splendens
Hylocomium loreum
Hypnum schreberi
Hypnum crista-castrensis
Dicranum majus
Plagiothecium undulatum
Hypnum cupressiforme
Polytrichum commune
Leucobryum glaucum
Spaghnum cymbifolium
Spagnum acutifolium
Rhacomitrium lanuginosum
There is a detailed description of each moss and also of the site conditions where it is likely to be found growing. Please see the PDF below for access to the full Booklet No 1.