Bryology
PRONUNCIATION: (bry-OL-uh-jee)
MEANING: noun: The branch of botany that deals with mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
ETYMOLOGY: From Greek bryo- (moss) + -logy (study). Earliest documented use: 1863.
USAGE: “The book’s protagonist … spends most of her life practicing bryology on her father’s estate.”Maggie Caldwell; Gather No Moss; Mother Jones (San Francisco); Sep/Oct 2013.
Well, there’s my new word for today! I’m doing my best to gather no moss, but to tell you the truth, today has been slowdown day & I could swear that my legs are showing some green on them. Very bryologic (if that’s a word).
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I do believe bryologic is a word, Juliet.:) I am so desperate for green that when I saw moss on a long walk in the woods on Saturday, I just had to photograph it. I’ve been sitting on the word, bryology, which came to me a month or two ago, for just this sighting. At this very moment, I’m wondering what it looks like right now as three inches of snow are on the ground.
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Love your photos!!! It’s nice to see something green.
What do you think of all of this snow we just received?
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Thanks, L. Marie. The moss was so welcome in the browns and tans of late winter.
The snow? Mother Nature isn’t being very nice, is she? We have about 3 inches of it. How about you?
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The new word is appreciated but the challenge is retaining it in the mush brain. Sorry about your weather. It can’t last forever, can it?
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I’m sure I won’t remember bryology, Marilyn. I’ll be in the forest and say “look, see the biology!”. 🙂
The snow was a bummer to wake up to this morning, Marilyn. We know to expect it in March, but, never like it when it arrives. I will melt by week’s end and I hope that is “it” for this year. You’re sweet to ask.
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Thank you for the new word! It’s appropriate for those of us who hang out in sloughs and swamps (I just got back from my Yoga class at the Slough). Although I don’t think just gazing in wonder at tree trunks covered in moss qualifies me as a practicing bryologist! I’d probably have to learn a fact or two about it!
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Isn’t it a great word, Sallie? I’ve been keeping it in abeyance for when moss finally showed up hereabouts. We were actually at one of the sloughs not far from here, though not at Yoga. You are more of a bryologist than you probably know, and won’t it be fun to use it sometime? 🙂
You are very welcome.
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I love learning a new word! The moss is beautiful! That’s an organism I don’t see too often. I think there has to be moisture for that, don’t you? 🙂
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Isn’t it fun learning new words? As I mentioned above to Sallie, I’ve kept it until I found a good patch of moss, which I did on a recent walk in the woods. It is the moisture, so, you’re not likely to see it in Southern CA. You will have to come here to become a bryologist. 🙂
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I don’t like the sound of “liverworts” and “hornworts” but at least that moss has brought a bit of green to the area!
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They sound rather Hogwartish, don’t they? This moss was so vibrant in the still sleeping forest on your walk. Green! I’m craving green.
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My new word too. Thanks for the definition and etymology, Penny. I love tracing the derivation of words. Your photos of mosses are lovely.
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It is rather fun, isn’t it? I actually came across bryology some time ago; or, rather, it came across me. I receive a “word of the day”, which is often very enlightening. Bryology was kept in abeyance until some moss finally showed up. I imagine once the temperatures warm there in the Highlands that you will see you share. 🙂
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[…] *Bryology […]
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