Feather moss is a term applied to a number of moss species, many within the family Hypnaceae

Hypnaceae

Hypnaceae is a large family of moss with broad worldwide occurrence. in the class Bryopsida, subclass Bryidae and order Hypnales. Genera include Hypnum and Ptilium.-Ecology:...

. Feather moss is a term applied to a moss species growing in a Boreal forest with the appearance of frond or feather like foliage. Alternatively the term Boreal forest moss is sometimes applied. The technical literature is inconsistent regarding taxonomic

Taxonomy

Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 associations with the term feather moss. In some cases, feather moss is simply applied to the genus Ptilium.

Ecology

Feathermoss is a term used in classifying and describing certain boreal forests. an example of this occurrence is within the Black Spruce

Black Spruce

Picea mariana is a species of spruce native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, and south to northern New York, Minnesota and central British Columbia...

/Feathermoss climax forest

Climax community

In ecology, a climax community, or climatic climax community, is a biological community of plants and animals which, through the process of ecological succession — the development of vegetation in an area over time — has reached a steady state. This equilibrium occurs because the climax community...

, often having moderately dense canopy and featuring a forest floor of feathermosses including Hylocomium splendens

Hylocomium splendens

Hylocomium splendens, commonly known as Glittering Wood-moss, Stair-step Moss and Mountain Fern Moss, is a perennial clonal moss with a widespread distribution in Northern Hemisphere boreal forests. It is commonly found in Europe, Russia, Alaska and Canada, where it is often the most abundant moss...

, Pleurozium schreberi and Ptilium crista-castrensis

Ptilium crista-castrensis

Ptilium crista-castrensis is a moss species within the family Hypnaceae, in the class Bryopsida, subclass Bryidae and order Hypnales.-Ecology:...

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