12/09/2026
Aside from looking extremely beautiful, moss is generally beneficial for the trees it likes to live upon. Being epiphytic, it does not take from the tree anything, but rather gathers what it needs from the air and the rain.
It is a curious plant, being non-vascular, and attaching itself to the surface it chooses to live upon not by roots but by rhizoids.
Living as it does, moss is extremely sensitive to the environment, and therefore does not do so well in heavily polluted areas. However, it cleans the air, and is beneficial for other life, including us, in that it takes in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
And as long as it’s not weighing a tree down, moss generally benefits its host, helping to protect a trees bark from extreme weather, and also assisting with moisture regulation. For moss takes in excess water during heavy rainfall, and then releases it gradually, which can help a tree during dry conditions, such as that which we’ve recently experienced.
How nice it is to run your hand over moss for it is soft, and almost comforting, and surely, when you walk through a woodland such as this, it feels most enchanting.