Feather Moss

Hylocomium splendens, commonly known as glittering woodmoss, splendid feather moss, stairstep moss or mountain fern moss, is a perennial clonal moss with an extensive distribution across Northern Hemisphere boreal forests. It thrives across Europe, Russia, Alaska and Canada, where it is often the most abundant moss species, and also inhabits Arctic tundra and higher elevations from northern California and western Sichuan to East Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the West Indies. In Scotland it is a characteristic component of the Caledonian Forest, and the UK's national vegetation classification names the pinewood community Pinus sylvestris-Hylocomium splendens woodland after it.