Olympic National Park, Washington State, USA

Mossy phone
The Pacific Northwest of America is famed for its forests. The Olympic National Park is on the West coast of Washington State, west of Seattle. (Location).The rainfall is high (3.5 m per year in some parts), the climate is mild (at lower elevations) and there are large areas of relatively undistrubed forest. Ideal conditions for moss! In the centre of the region, the Hoh river runs, and bordering it are some trails through a spectacular landscape of enormous trees (up to 100m high) dripping with epiphytic mosses and clubmosses.

Identitification of several the species on this page is pending.

Most of the images can be clicked to enlarge them.

Rocks covered in Racomitrium heterostichum on the shore of Crescent Lake


Racomitrium heterostichum	Hair point, showing small spines (x 150)	'Crinkle-cut' cells typical of the genus (x600)

'Hall of mosses' trail. Trees are dripping with clubmoss and Isothecium stoloniferum.

Clubmoss (actually more of a fern than a moss)


Isothecium stoloniferum	?	Dicranum	?	?

Sphagnum	Liverwort	Hylocomnium splendens?	Hylocomnium splendens?	Rhytidiadelphus loreus

Rhizomnium glabrescens	Climacium?	Plagiothecium?	Plagiomnium venustum?