365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Prevalent Species
Day 121: I must admit that bryology is not my field, so I am venturing out on a very long limb, saw in hand, to suggest that this might be Hylocomium splendens, a common "step moss" in the Pacific Northwest. It carpets the forest floor on the Park's Tahoma Woods property, and when I say "carpets," I mean thickly. Its reddish stems and chartreuse foliage give the woods a feeling of lushness you won't find even in the Olympic Rainforest. The pseudo-fractal pattern of its leaf blades rivals that of any fern, always appearing translucent and moist. A hiker's foot straying from the path would be engulfed by its depth (to the moss' detriment, I might add).
There is such beauty in the microcosm of the forest! Take time to observe the small things when you're out on your next hike.
Labels:
Hylocomium splendens,
Step Moss,
T Woods
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