The story
Bigleaf maples in the Hoh become draped in heavy mantles of club moss and ferns, forming hanging gardens on their limbs. Some maples grow adventitious roots from their branches to absorb moisture and nutrients from the soil that accumulates within the moss.
Take a good look at the bigleaf maples in here, the ones absolutely smothered in moss. Some of them carry so much club moss and fern on their limbs that a single tree becomes an entire hanging garden. And the trees have learned to use it. A few of them grow extra roots straight out of their own branches, reaching up into the soil that collects in all that moss, drinking from a garden they're holding in their own arms.
Photo: Ron Clausen · CC BY-SA 4.0
