Along the trail

I walked down to Roberts Lake, mostly looking for mushrooms, but also snapping photos of anything that caught my eye. The forest here, brown and green, tall evergreens over a carpet of moss and evergreen ferns, is dimly lit, but here and there gaps overhead permit rays of sunlight to penetrate. Along the lower edges of the forest, facing the lake, more sunlight makes the moss glow and permits the growth of flowering shrubs, salmonberry, thimbleberry, and flowering currant. Here, bees and robins take advantage of a warm day.

Forest floor near the lake. Here, the sun shines. Small glowing leaves are huckleberry.

Farther away from the lake, one narrow ray of sunlight illuminates an evergreen fern.

Bridge over the creek. The lighted area straight ahead is on the trail back up the hill.

Tracery of alder branches against the sky at lakeside. There are still no leaves visible.

Moss on a stump. Electrified cats-tail, Pseudisothecium stoloniferum.

A bee zips from one salmonberry flower to the next.

At the edge of the parking lot, a robin stands, listening for worms.

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Bajé por el sendero que nos lleva al lago Roberts. Buscaba hongos, pero también sacaba fotos de cualquier cosa que me llamaba la atención. El bosque en este sitio, en tonos de café y verde, se compone de árboles de hoja perenne dando sombra a una alfombra de musgos y helechos perennes. La luz del sol apenas penetra aquí, pero donde se abren espacios allá arriba entre las copas de los árboles, algunos rayos de sol logran colarse. Cerca del lago hay más luz, y el musgo brilla; aquí la luz permite crecer los arbustos de salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), y grosella roja.  Aquí, también, las abejas y los petirrojos se aprovechan de un dia con sol.

1. El sotobosque cerca del lago, donde el sol logra penetrar. Las hojas pequeñas, como lucecitas, son de arándano rojo.
2. No tan cerca del lago, un rayo solitario de luz ilumina unas frondas de helecho.
3. Puente que cruza el riachuelo donde entra al lago. El espacio iluminado en la distancia es parte del sendero que sube hacia la carretera.
4. Ramas de aliso rojo contra el cielo al borde del lago. Todavía no aparecen hojas.
5. Liquen Pseudisothecium stoloniferum, aquí conocido como "cola de gato electrificada".
6. Una abeja se acerca a una flor de salmonberry.
7. Y al lado del estacionamiento, un petirrojo se detiene, escuchando el ruidito de una lombriz bajo la tierra.

Jungle blanket

Anything that sits still in the rainforest ends up with a green quilt.

Moss on a burl.

I've been struggling to learn to identify the many mosses in our forests, with limited success. I think this may possibly be electrified cat's tail moss, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus. I could be wrong, of course.

Species name referring to the triangular leaves and the occasional three-rowed arrangement of the uppermost leaves of some stems. ... Commonly called the rough neck moss or shaggy moss because of the untidy leaves at the shoot tips. A whimsical name, electri­fied cat tail moss, has gained some popularity in British Columbia.
Distinguishing characteristics:
The very coarse, pale yellow-green plants with usually untidy divergent leaves of the main stem tip and upper branches, the strongly pleated, somewhat wrinkled leaves and the two strong midribs serve as useful characters. (E-Flora BC)

Zooming in.

Coarse moss: check.
Triangular, wrinkled, pleated leaves: check.
I couldn't get a clear view of a double midrib.
Divergent leaves at upper stem tip: check.
Yellow-green (spring green): check.
On logs, rocks, and here, a rotting burl: check.

But I still could be mistaken. Moss is as confusing as gulls or mushrooms.

Cat's tongues, Electrified tails, and Oregon hat decor.

It's a while since I've seen cat's tongue fungus, and never more than one at a time. This week, on the Canyonview trail, there were many, mostly on the back side of mossy logs.

Cat's tongue, Pseudohydnum gelatinosum. AKA quivering spine fungus, white tooth jelly, etc. The moss, I think, is Electrified Cat's tail. To go with the tongues.

On another log. I like the delicate scalloped edges. The stalk often extends to the side, towards the woody base.

Red-belted polypore, Fromitopsis pinicola, wearing a hat decorated with Oregon beaked moss.

Orange jelly, on a very wet log. It hadn't been raining, but this forest is very damp, and takes days of sunshine to dry out. Note the tiny, dark blue buttons; probably early lichen settlers.

Electrified cat's tail

Mosses are difficult to identify. (Typical Canadian understatement; begin again.) Mosses are fiendishly difficult to identify.

They change from one day to the next, depending on the weather. They grow in compact mounds, uniformly coloured, one leaf blending into the next. They are multicultural; as many as 40 different species can live together on one tree, intermingled. Male and female plants may seem to be separate species. And they are best seen in the pouring rain, when cameras and magnifying lenses are at a disadvantage.

Back at home, Googling mosses, looking at photos, I find apparent matches. But most of them, once I follow the links, refer to them generically, as "moss". It seems that other people are as befuddled as I am.

Moss experts try to help, giving specific mosses easily remembered names. "Finger-licking good moss," "palm tree moss," "beaked moss," "wavy-leaved cotton moss," "goose-neck moss," and my favourite, "electrified cats'-tail moss." Now, the problem is remembering which of all those green, spiky mosses goes with which handy name.

This, I think, is Oregon beaked moss. I could (easily) be wrong. Note the lone, red sporophyte. (Or Rhytidiadelphus loreus? See comment by Matt Goff.*)

And this should be Electrified cats-tail, Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus.

Zooming in on one of the dozens of mosses on a short trail. Unidentified, for the moment. (Buckiella undulata*)

This one has a strong central stem. (Oregon beaked moss?*)

And in this one, the stem and branches are brown, even on a wet, green day. The branches here are opposite: compare to those on the Oregon beaked moss, which are alternate. (Glittering wood moss, Hylocomium splendens.*)

A hanging moss. These grow mainly on branches. (Brachythecium?*)

I thought I had memorized the order in which our guide, Jocie Brooks, had showed us the mosses, and could co-ordinate them with the sequence of photos. I was too optimistic. We saw repeats at random throughout the walk, and my list got scrambled in my mossy brain.

At least I remember clearly which one was the "Finger-licking good moss". Unfortunately, by then my camera had gone on strike because of the rain. Can't win.

*Updated after comments by Matt Goff.