Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum

Paroles de « Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum »

Intro: ambient swell

Verse

Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum
Bryophyta, non-vascular, no true root
One cell thick across the leaf
Water held against the surface, never drawn up

[Female voice]
Sphagnum: genus of approximately three hundred species
Capable of holding twenty times its dry weight

Verse

Capsule, operculum, peristome
Sixty-four teeth that open in dry air
Spores released at relative humidity below forty
Collected on a glass slide, dated, filed in triplicate

[Female voice]
Substrate: decaying wood, exposed mineral soil
Contraindicated: full sun, disturbed ground, salt

Chorus

Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum
Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum

Verse

Dicranum scoparium, broom moss
Leaves turned to one side, falcate-secund
Polytrichum commune, haircap
Calyptra golden, hairy, shed by June

[Female voice]
Refer to the standard key, couplet fourteen
If the costa reaches the apex, proceed to fifteen

Verse

Mycelium beneath, hyphae septate
Fruiting body: cap, gills, stipe, annulus
Spore print taken overnight beneath a tumbler
White, cream, pink, ochre, purple-brown, black

[Female voice]
Amanita: volva present at the base
Do not key from memory. Do not key from memory

Chorus

Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum
Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum

Instrumental solo

Verse

Lichen: two organisms, one thallus
Crustose, foliose, fruticose
Photobiont enclosed in the fungal body
Growth rate: one millimetre in a year

Verse

Dust lifted off the hand lens with one finger
Level laid on the plank, the bubble to the centre
Lamp on the drying cabinet, red to green
Thirty-six degrees, eight hours, do not open

Verse

Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum
Peat accumulates one millimetre per annum
Below the water table, decomposition stops
Nothing is lost. Nothing is released

Chorus

Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum
Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Dicranum

Instrumental

Outro

Sphagnum
Polytrichum
Dicranum
Bryophyta

Instrumental Outro