ABSTRACT
The paper is summarizing up to date published articles about building vertical greenery systems (VGS) which are focused on the living walls. The diversity of building vegetation is profitable for the urban environment as well as for the indoor micro-climate. The most common plants for greenery systems are plants with stem, well known as flowering or vascular plants. The primary focus of this article is on non-vascular plants, represented by mosses. The discussion is addressed to moss biology, diversity, its demands and limitations with comparison to vascular plants. The research is looking into moss’s properties and advantages suitable for the further design of natural living wall with moss. The primary intention in this field is to attain the resistant evergreen plant skin of the building with minimized maintenance. Moss walls are not the very new development; though, the common moss walls are nowadays mostly indoor, using preserved moss. This review paper is made with anticipation of supporting the green city development with a natural, sustainable and low maintenance rate solution. Green city development is pleasing to a public, provides urban habitats and generally creates a connection between urban environment and pure nature. We aim to highlight the characteristics and suitability of mosses for construction purposes, not to interfere profoundly into its biological features. The conclusion based on the knowledge obtained from the reviewed literature is that the most important for moss growth on building structures is compatibility of moss species to climate conditions in any location and type of the surface for its growth.
