The Boundary Layer Is Where Mosses Live

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Mosses can only photosynthesize when they're both wet and illuminated. airflow can be a great detriment to the growth of mosses. A boundary layer is this area of extremely still air right at the surface of any surface, a log, a rock, a tree, your house. This region of still air is where mosses live. And that way they can stay moist. They don't have so much evaporation because of wind flow.

It’s November and you need chill vibes. And Native American Heritage Month is the perfect time to encore this classic. World-renowned author, botanist, Indigenous ecology professor and bryologist Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of “Gathering Moss” and “Braiding Sweetgrass,” talks about her passion for moss. Cozy up for the most beautifully doled-out information about hidden worlds, overlooked mysteries, botanical drama, forests in miniature, Native peoples’ uses for moss and philosophies about science and ecology. Dr. Kimmerer will change the way you see mosses forever, will inspire you to wear a loupe on a rope, and will soothe your soul with her beautiful voice and prose. Also bathmats, lawns and smoothies made of moss? We discuss.

Follow Dr. Kimmerer on Facebook at

Look for her books at independent bookstores or wherever books are sold (including Amazon): “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “Gathering Moss”

Donations went to the ESF’s Center for Native Peoples and the Environment and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)