The common name moss falsely spans lichens, algae, and flowering plants

Evidence

The word “moss” is commonly applied to plants which are not actually mosses. Reindeer “moss” is a lichen, Spanish “moss” is a flowering plant, sea “moss” is an alga, and club “moss” is a lycophyte. So what is a moss? A true moss or bryophyte is the most primitive of land plants. Mosses are often described by what they lack, in comparison to the more familiar higher plants. They lack flowers, fruits, and seeds and have no roots. They have no vascular system, no xylem and phloem to conduct water internally. They are the most simple of plants, and in their simplicity, elegant. With just a few rudimentary components of stem and leaf, evolution has produced some 22,000 species of moss worldwide. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 83

Categorization

• DEFINE: Definitional clearing of what a true moss is (bryophyte) plus the 22,000-species figure.
• CANDY: Reindeer ‘moss’ is a lichen, Spanish ‘moss’ a flowering plant, sea ‘moss’ an alga — fun surprises for small talk.
• XREF: connects to: Indigenous languages encoded moss distinctions that English collapses into one word — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 423; Mosses usually lack common names because no one has bothered to give them — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 47