Old-growth temperate rain forests carry a moss abundance so lavish it feels intoxicating.

Evidence

Every surface in a temperate rain forest is covered with moss. Stumps and logs, the entire forest floor is greened with wildly tangled turfs of Rhytidiadelphus and translucent clumps of Plagiomnium. The tree trunks are feathered with plumes of Dendroalsia like the breast of a great green parrot. Vine maple shrubs arch over under the weight of curtains of Neckera and Isothecium two feet long. I can’t help it, my heart beats faster when I come into these woods. Perhaps there is some intoxicating element in moss-breathed air, transmuted in its passage through glistening leaves. … I’ve often wondered if the land any longer has reason to return gratitude toward humans. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 564

Categorization

• XREF: Ends on the eco-justice thread: gratitude reciprocity broken by human treatment of land, echoing the salvaging/possession motif of the chapter. — connects to: A seabird’s decline traces to loss of the old-growth moss that lines its nests — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 587
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what is the actual ecological role of hypophytes in temperate rainforest hydrology and nutrient cycling that might support this felt intoxication?