Mosses are among the most ancient plants on earth, and their peculiar biology shows it. The lovely leafy green plant that all of us are familiar with? It has just half the normal number of chromosomes, as Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nathaniel T. Wheelwright explains in this latest Nature Moments video.

If you want to make your own natural history observations, The Naturalist’s Notebook by Wheelwright and Research Associate in Biology Bernd Heinrich (Storey Publishing, 2017) provides guidance and a systematic format, with 100 percent of royalties going to conservation and environmental education.

Check out more Nature Moments.