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Havens for Wildlife )"7&/4'038*-%-*'& 4FDUJPO# .PTTFT -JWFSXPSUTBOE'FSOT This sheet explains what mosses, liverworts and Liverworts ferns are, where they occur and guidelines on how Liverworts are similar to to care for them in a burial ground. mosses but tend to be The earliest land plants were related to ferns and leafy and are less common. mosses. They started life growing on the edge of lakes Liverworts are mostly found and rivers 400 million years ago. Today most ferns, in woodland and by streams mosses and liverworts still need to grow in moist or rivers but can also be found places. on shady stones and damp soil in burial grounds. They are With our damp climate many burial sites prove ideal for strange, distinctive looking ferns, mosses and liverworts, particularly in the western plants and worth looking at areas of Britain and Ireland. closely or photographing their Adder’s-tongue Fern intricate shapes and subtle colours. MOSSES AND LIVERWORTS Mosses and liverworts are known as FERNS ‘bryophytes’. They are small, green plants *OUIFDPPM XFUDMJNBUFPGUIF6,UIFSFBSFUZQFTPG which do not have !owers or seeds but fern. Look out for ferns on west or north facing walls produce spores instead. There are over in particular. The shady areas of burial grounds, and 1000 di"erent species of bryophyte in under trees, where grass cutters don’t reach, will also UIF6,BOEUIFZUFOEUPCFGPVOEJO be places where ferns can !ourish undisturbed. sheltered, damp places as most of them cannot survive drying out. Few mosses An amazing fact about ferns is that once established PSMJWFSXPSUTIBWF&OHMJTIOBNFTBOEB they can survive in quite dry places, such as walls. microscope is needed to identify many of 6OMJLFNPTTFTBOEMJWFSXPSUT GFSOTUFOEUPIBWF them. Thuidium &OHMJTIOBNFTBOENBOZBSFRVJUFFBTZUPJEFOUJGZ Ferns found on walls include spleenwort, wall rue, rusty Mosses back, polypody and shield fern. Mosses can be found on all types of stonework, roofs Species more likely to be found under the trees include and within grassland. A wide variety of mosses can lady fern, male fern, hard fern and royal fern, as well as be found within a burial ground often with beautiful the shield ferns and polypodys also found on walls. colours and shapes. Polypodys can also grow on trees. If your churchyard Mosses attach themselves to the ground, wood, bark or has calcareous (limy) soil you may #nd hart’s-tongue stone by roots called ‘rhizoids’ and can grow in barren fern, or even, more rarely, adder’s-tongue fern. places without nutrients. The amount of shade, shelter and water will a"ect where mosses grow and which Bracken types. Typically a few moss species will grow together, Bracken is an invasive fern. It is easy to tell bracken softening stonework with cushions or growing over from other ferns as it does not grow in clumps from headstones. Flat stones can quickly be covered with a central point, but on separate stems. Bracken does moss which may protect the have wildlife bene#ts, particularly for butter!ies and stone and any inscriptions on it. moths which use it for shelter and egg laying. A clump Mosses tend to grow in of bracken in a burial ground is not a problem but if it is di"erent places from lichens starting to increase then snap o" the stems just as they which need more sun and are unfurling. Reapeated breaking or ‘bracken bruising’ less water, so mosses and will reduce the vigour of the plant. lichens rarely compete for the same space. This is also true in How to help mosses, liverworts and ferns grassland where moss is found 6OMFTTUIFSFJTBDMFBSQSPCMFNTVDIBTBTMJQQFSZ in damp, shaded areas, usually path, leave these plants alone as they rarely damage with sedges, rushes and fungi. Petalophyllum ralfsii stonework and are a natural part of grassland. )"7&/4'038*-%-*'& .PTTFT -JWFSXPSUTBOE'FSOT Exception If a damp area of the churchyard supports ferns, then Moss can occasionally accelerate stone deterioration. cutting less frequently in the area immediately around It may be worth removing moss from the top surface the existing ferns could help them to spread naturally, of sandstone as the rhizoids can penetrate downwards particularly if these surrounds are damp or shaded. into the stone. Other than this moss is not damaging. Do not allow invasive plants like ivy to cover mosses, If you are repairing a wall which has moss, liverworts liverworts and ferns. This can happen on a wall, or ferns growing on it then try to keep them in situ. If monument or tree. Keep invasive plants in check by this is not possible then remove them carefully, keep regular trimming or removal. damp during work and replace in the same location. Mosses, liverworts and ferns are particularly susceptible Repairing a wall over time, rather than in one go, to chemicals, which is one reason why they can thrive bene#ts these plants as it gives them some time to in burial grounds. Please do not use herbicides or recolonise. pesticides. Hart’s-tongue Fern Useful contacts British Bryological Society, www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk Caring for God’s Acre, www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk 'FSO8PSME#SJUJTI1UFSJEPMPHJDBM4PDJFUZ XXXOINBDVLIPTUFE@TJUFTCQT Useful reading A Key to Common Ferns – Field Studies Council fold-out chart Club Moss Grasses, Ferns, Mosses & Lichens of Great Britain & Ireland – Roger Phillips, Macmillan.
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