INTRODUCTION

My name is Michael Fenn, and I am a senior studying biology at Clark University. In my senior year, I decided to do a directed study in order to gain a better understanding of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts. A significant part of this directed study was collecting, identifying, and understanding the species of mosses and liverworts in the Hadwen Arboretum located near the Clark University campus (unfortunately, I found no hornworts). All of the pictures found on this website are my own that I have taken while collecting samples or walking in the woods. 

I made this website to shine a light on mosses: an often-overlooked group of organisms that are fascinating and deserve more attention than they get. Mosses, along with their more obscure relatives hornworts and liverworts, make up a group of plants called bryophytes. Most people experience these peripherally as small, quiet, green things: their leaves do not rustle in the wind; they are often found growing in sidewalk cracks, in bark fissures, on rocks, or other such unassuming places; they are small and escape the human eye in a way that trees and animals do not. 

To understand their interest and appeal, you must go deeper and go beyond their modest forms. In this website, I hope to detail how this group of organisms are interesting representations of life on earth that are worthy of your time and attention. Next time you are outside, be sure to look down, look up, and look closely to notice these wonderful little green clumps all around you.