Mosses

Moss genera are named in Greek and written in Latin, which is why so few of them can be spelled from their sound. Polytrichum hides a k inside a ch. Leucobryum opens with the eu that says oo here and yoo in eucalyptus. Rhytidiadelphus starts with a silent h and ends with a ph.

Nothing on these pages is about slipped fingers. Each one catches a spelling somebody typed after hearing the name in a field, on a walk or in a lecture, and works out which letter the ear could not have known about.

Names in this group

polytrichum

Said pol-ee-TRIK-um. Polytrichum commune.

A genus of tall, stiff-leaved mosses of heath, moor and open woodland, with a hairy hood over the spore capsule.

12 heard spellings on file, among them y standing in for i, an unstressed vowel blurring and c holding its k sound.

leucobryum

Said loo-koh-BRY-um. Leucobryum glaucum.

A genus of cushion-forming mosses whose leaves are packed with large empty cells, which fill with air and give the plant its whitish cast when dry.

9 heard spellings on file, among them two sound decisions at once, an unstressed vowel blurring and y standing in for i.

rhytidiadelphus

Said rye-tid-ee-a-DEL-fus. Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus.

A genus of large, robust mosses of grassland, lawns and woodland floors, with wrinkled leaves and stiff reddish stems.

12 heard spellings on file, among them an unstressed vowel blurring, two sound decisions at once and ph doing the work of f.

Also here: Lichens, Liverworts and hornworts.