Abstract
IT is pleasing to see that the attention of foresters is being directed to the mosses as indicators of soil conditions. H. Watson, forest officer instructor at the Benmore Forest School, Argyll, has produced an attractive booklet introducing this subject (Forestry Commission Booklet No. 1. Woodland Mosses. London : H.M. Stationery Office, 1947. 2s. net). The brief introductory account of the life-history of a moss is followed by descriptions of twelve species likely to be encountered in afforestation areas. The descriptions are accompanied by ‘turf' photographs to show the habit of growth in mass, and photographs of single shoots to illustrate the more detailed growth-form and include the salient features by which the species may be recognized in the field. There are also notes on the soil conditions favoured, especially as regards the degree of humus decomposition and soil acidity, and brief reference is made to the suitability or otherwise of the soil conditions indicated for afforestation purposes.
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Mosses as Soil Indicators. Nature 161, 823 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161823a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161823a0