Gardeners have many foes. Weeds pop up between plants and steal their light. Slugs and snails nibble holes in leaves. Moles and voles burrow beneath the ground then burst up, leaving the lawn scarred with ugly bumps.

But the most cunning villain in this rogue's gallery might be moss: the bizarre ancient plant that sprouts up alongside grass and turns perfect green lawns into a clumpy, discoloured mulchMaterial, including decaying leaves and compost, that is spread around a plant to help it grow. . And it is not just an enemy of gardeners. Moss also peaks through roofs and tiles. It brings a slimy tone to everything it touches. ShakespeareAn English playwright and poet who is often called the greatest writer in the English language. associated moss with sadness and death.¹

Yet, according to a recent global survey, we have got it all wrong. Moss is actually a miracleSomething amazing or wonderful. It is a very unusual event. plant. It fights air pollution, cools down air, keeps soil healthy and helps other plants to grow.² 

Mosses have a unique structure, with no roots, flowers or stems. While most plants use roots to absorb water and nutrients, mosses do so with their entire bodies. This makes them incredibly efficient at absorbing air pollutionThe presence in the air of harmful or poisonous substances. Air pollution can cause many health problems. . Some moss species can suck in the chemicals in car exhaust fumes, while others can remove heavy metals from the air.³

They are also natural sponges. They can slurp up and store up to 20 times their weight in water. When this evaporates, it can cool the air around by up to 2C.

It even has an amazing ability to freeze time. Centuries-old human bodies have been found preserved in mossy bogs.⁴

According to environmental biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, mosses are: "the most overlooked plants on the planet. But they're gifts, too. They provide us with another model of how we might live."

Kimmerer is the world's most famous bryologistA scientist who studies moss.. She encountered moss as a student and was immediately obsessed with its slow pace, complex architecture and intricate scale: "It was love at first sight."⁵

Now she believes that they can offer lessons for our future. Mosses are the oldest land plants on Earth, with the first examples dating back 450 million years. They have survived millennia of changing climate. 

Mosses have often proven useful to humans. Ancient mountain people lined their boots and gloves with mosses for insulation. Fishermen have used moss to clean caught salmon. Doctors in World War OneA war that included many European countries between 1914 and 1918.  used peat moss to help stop and even heal wounds.⁶ Researchers today are experimenting with numerous new uses, from air cleaning systems to nappies.

Yet although mosses are remarkable, they are difficult for us to imitate. They can reproduce by cloningCreating an exact copy. . When they face hostile climates, they can dehydrateLose a large amount of water. themselves and go into suspended animationWhen a living thing temporarily stops most of its normal functions - for example, a hibernating animal. . Scientists have been able to revive mosses that have been dried for 40 years. We have no equivalent ability to simply wait out global warming.

Even Kimmerer is unsure if moss can help humans to survive climate catastrophe. She is certain that "the evolutionary creativity of the plant world will renew itself" as the planet heats up. But will humans be around to witness the mossy new world? Kimmerer says: "I have less faith in that."

Yes: Plants can teach us to think differently. As naturalist Henry David Thoreau wrote: "By the mediation of a thousand little mosses and fungi, the most unsightly objects become radiant of beauty."

No: Moss is a strange, beautiful, remarkable plant. But it is also fundamentally a very different organism to ourselves. None of its lessons can stop the environmental crisis that threatens our world.

Or... The great boon of human life is that we can learn from almost everything. Moss is no exception. But there are plenty of other plants and natural phenomena that can teach us just as much or more.