Moss

plants · no seeds · ancient

Super tiny plants. Most mosses are only as tall as your pinky finger is wide, growing between 0.2 and 10 centimeters. The tallest moss ever, called Dawsonia superba, can reach 24 inches high, which is still shorter than a pencil!

Love wet places. Mosses grow best in damp, shady spots like forest floors and near streams. They don't need much to survive, which is why you can find them thriving in places where other plants struggle.

No roots or seeds. Unlike most plants, mosses have no true roots and no seeds. Instead, they reproduce using tiny spores, like how ferns make babies, spreading through the air to grow into new moss plants.

Simple structure. Moss leaves are only one cell thick, making them paper-thin and delicate. They also lack the special water-carrying tubes that other plants have, so they absorb water directly from their surroundings.

Super common. There are roughly 12,000 different species of moss living all over the world. They're found on every continent and play an important role in keeping forests healthy and damp.