Feathermoss

Feather moss (or Boreal forest moss) is a moss species growing in a Boreal forest with the appearance of frond or feather like foliage.

The technical literature is inconsistent regarding taxonomic associations with the term feather moss. In some cases, feather moss is simply applied to the genus Ptilium, or to a number of moss species within the family Hypnaceae.

Feathermoss is a term used in classifying and describing certain boreal forests. An example of this occurrence is within the Black Spruce/Feathermoss climax forest, often having moderately dense canopy and featuring a forest floor of feathermosses including Hylocomium splendens, Pleurozium schreberi and Ptilium crista-castrensis.

Feather flat moss (Neckera pennata) can be an indicator of late successional and old-growth hardwood forests, because it usually grows on sugar maples in the Northeast that are at least 120 years old.

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