Asterella gets fifteen minutes of fame

The Los Angeles Times featured me briefly on their plant Instagram! By the way, the specimen is still dormant because I am too sad (and afraid of molds) to rehydrate it.

Fun lichen paper

 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231809006_Growth_from_the_Centre_in_an_Umbilicate_Lichen

This isn't a particularly useful paper, but its description of how Lasallia pustules emerge and migrate from the thallus center like soap bubbles being blown by a machine is quite sublime and oddly amusing.

4/20 boring update

Asterella is dried up and thus dormant, because I got sick of having moldy wet dirt in my house. Sphaerocarpos is dead again.

I'm not sure I like dirt any more

The cactus potting soil I stored dry and seemingly in clean conditions for months began emitting a faint moldy odor as soon as I rehydrated it. The gravel in the Asterella californica cup has also developed a similarly mild but unpleasant odor over the past few months. Intriguingly the dead mushy parts of the Asterella itself have no visible or smellable microbial presence; I suspect its flesh contains natural antibiotics. Ironically, the dirt in the Sphaerocarpos jar had a pleasant nutty smell and no mold (despite being in an airtight humid container) when the Sphaerocarpos in it were still thriving. The nutty smell is gone now that the sphaers are decaying, of course, but I'm surprised the pleasant scent lasted for weeks under sopping wet conditions.

Also I got some new Sphaerocarpos to replace the dead ones. I touched the new ones with my hands after washing them in hard water, because I had no access to soft water at the time, and I suspect the calcareous residues from my hands may kill them eventually. So far it is still alive though.

Anyways, despite being in microbe-infested dirt, the Asterella seems to have increased its sprout size by a few more millimeters! I can't wait for the pandemic to end so I can give it a thorough sanitization and acquire some dirt that won't mold.

4/10 update

Sphaerocarpos turned to slime. I suspect I used tap water w too many chems.

Asterella californica became subtly but increasingly brown around its growing point, I let it dry out one too many times because of absentmindedness and misery. Fortunately I imagine it may recover from this if I keep it damp long enough.

4/5 hasty plant update

 

Asterella californica: As usual I couldn't be bothered to take a nonblurry photo, so here is an ugly one! If you look carefully, you can see that green lobes are growing around the brown orb in the center. I highly doubt the lobes will grow into a new orb; I imagine they'll grow into new "leaves". I am glad that it is capable of surviving on hard water! Quite exciting.

Sphaerocarpos: v probably still growing rapidly. Have not checked it.

Physciella chloantha: I acquired some more. It better not die.

Mosses: Tired. Unmotivated. I dumped all of them (including the uninvited freebies from the Asterella cup) into a small container and let it dry out.  Maybe I'll rehydrate the thing when I am less tired.

Sphaerocarpos update 3/17

All of my Sphaerocarpos specimens have grown very rapidly!

Here is a pic of one. As you can see, it is no longer yellow. Evidently, being moved to a brighter place has increased its health. It's not very obvious in the pic, but my specimens have also decreased the size of their sexual balloons and covered themselves in a network of green threads (I believe they are protonemata, though possibly of mosses). Their thalli are also now no longer tightly appressed to the ground, instead fanning out into the air in all directions. The plants now look like corals covered in spider gossamer.

The balloon shrinkage was not surprising - after all I'd already read long ago that female Sphaerocarpos rapidly reduce their balloon mass and both sexes become unnaturally healthy/fastgrowing when in captivity.

I wish I was capable of such phenotypic plasticity. Unnatural health is so cool...

Nyctoporis survived!

My contact reports that all eighteen Nyctoporis carinata larvae showed up alive and well despite the coldness of the post office.

Also this is unrelated but most of the mosses in my cup have been looking increasingly pallid. I assume my recent overwatering tendency has been harming them. The Asterella californica specimen, on the other hand, seems to be doing well and appears to be very slowly making some new branches. I am not sure whether the Asterella is actually growing, but it certainly seems to be.

No more nyctopores

 I have sent away all my Nyctoporis carinata larvae! I now have no captive arthropods. Here are some pics of one shortly before sending it off in the mail. By the way, several died since my last count, so instead of 21 there are now 18. Intriguingly, some of the most small and/or injured larvae survived.

Here is a blurry vid of their defensive flopping and jerky gait. In dirtless containers they can start chain reactions of increasingly panicked flopping when one larva accidentally collides with another. Interestingly large larvae barely engage in peristalsis when they walk, unlike small larvae.

Sphaerocarpos update 3/4

 Still alive but concerningly somewhat yellowish. Moved it to brighter area today in hopes of de-yellowing it.

Asterella/moss update 3/1

 I accidentally let them dry out again last night. Upon rehydration the Asterella was still green but its "orb" had turned brown. The mosses still seem fine.