Highbush Blueberry
Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) is native to North America. It is an upright, multi-stemmed, slow-growing deciduous shrub found naturally in bogs, swamps and high elevation forests and it can grow 6 to 12 feet tall.
The twigs of the bush are yellow-green (reddish in the winter) and covered with small wart-like dots. The leaves are oval shaped, 1 to 3 inches long, and are slightly waxy. Flowering occurs from February to June, and the flowers are white or pink, small and urn-shaped with 5 petals and 8 to 10 flowers per cluster. Fruiting occurs from April to October and the fruit are a quarter to half an inch round, blue-black in color with many seeds.
Bees are the primary pollinators of the plant and birds spread the seeds through their dropping. The highbush blueberry is important to the forest because it houses and feeds numerous wildlife.
Common Haircap Moss
Common haircap moss (Polytrichum commune) can be found all over Mighton Woods and it grows easily in many regions around the country that have high humidity and rainfall.
It is quite tall for a moss with stems often growing 2 to 12 inches. It is dark green in color and browns as it ages. It typically grows in large patches and its stems resemble a miniature display of green fireworks. Stems range in stiffness and the leaves are small and pointed. Common haircap moss also has fibrous rhizoids that can extend into the ground and can produce clonal offsets resulting in dense colonies of plants.
Common haircap moss have separate male and female plants that are fertilized partly by rainfall. Following fertilization, a 4-angled, box-like red capsule is produced on a long stalk (up to 4 inches). When mature the capsule is covered by a hairy golden-brown case and a spore is released in late summer.
Common haircap moss is an endohydric moss, which means that water must be conducted from the base of the plant. Most mosses are considered non-vascular plants, however, common haircap moss shows clear differentiation of water conducting tissue.
Another characteristic that shows a difference between common haircap moss and other mosses is the plants feature of parallel photosynthetic lamellae (tissue plates) on the upper surfaces of its leaves. Most mosses only have a single plate of cells on the leaf surface. This more complex differentiated photosynthetic tissue shows an adaption for dry conditions, where the structure provided protection from water loss.
Common haircap moss provides protective cover for many invertebrate animals, as well as providing nest material for birds, such as the American Robin.
