Trying to Capture the Mosses

With my current limitations of equipment and/or skill, I am still trying to make an impressive photo of moss showing the sporophytes projecting upward from the mat of gametophytes.  For now, the top three photos above will have to do.  I urge you to click on each one and explore as if you were an ant, a strategy recommended by Thoreau even when viewing the "real thing."  I find the life cycles of mosses intriguing, and will start searching for other species.  Right next to the log on which I photographed these mosses was a nice young sagebrush, Artemisia tridenta, (bottom photo) which was a more cooperative photo subject.  I walk by this one nearly every day on my way to the FRC library, so I'll be watching for its tiny, camouflaged flowers.  It's in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. formerly known as Compositae.