Hylocomium splendens

Glittering Wood-moss, Splendid Feather Moss, Stair-step Moss, Mountain Fern Moss

A large moss with a distinctive stair-step growth pattern, where each year's new growth emerges from the middle of the previous year's frond. This layered architecture makes it easy to age individual stems by counting tiers. Native to boreal and temperate forests across the Northern Hemisphere, it forms feathery mats of olive-green to yellow-green foliage on reddish stems. It does best in cool, shaded, humid conditions and adds visible structure to closed terrariums that stay consistently moist and cool.