#malusfusca

A gnarled, densely twisty crabapple's branches are entirely covered by thick mats of temperate rainforest mosses. It makes a verdant contrast with the grey sky.

One of my favorite trees, a craggy old pacific crabapple, made huggable by moss. Sometimes delicate slime molds appear in the moss, on threadlike stems like lacewing eggs. It hunkers under conifers and bigleaf maples, and has an Oemleria huddled beneath it.
#malusfusca #moss #bryophyte #salishsea

Out in the Pacific Northwest, home to one of my favorite wild #apples - #Malusfusca! Having spent more than a decade working with fusca and its hybrids, it was really fun to co-lead the effort to resolve the first North American wild apple species #genome with @bmansfeld.bsky.social.