Glittering Woodmoss

Glittering woodmoss (Hylocomium splendens) is a feathery moss that carpets the floor of boreal forests across the Northern Hemisphere. It grows in a stepped pattern, each year's shoot arising from the middle of the previous year's.

🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Glittering Woodmoss in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Diaphoretickes lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.

Each year the moss produces a new shoot from the middle of the old one, forming a tier of stepped segments. By counting the segments, one can estimate the age of a shoot, and measure growth in different years.

Cyanobacteria living on the surface of feather mosses fix atmospheric nitrogen, a major natural input of the nutrient in northern forests. The moss mat also insulates the soil and holds moisture. See Nitrogen fixation.

Boreal mosses are important in the carbon cycle, as they grow slowly and decompose even more slowly. See Peat Moss.