Not so rare if you know where to look. I've found it in 4 different places in the Southeast Olympics now. All were at higher elevations on dry exposed unused logging raods. Sadly, a lot of this moss has been destroyed by road decommissioning.
I expect it was everyone at elevation on this road before they decommissioned it.
This was growing on a rotten log next to a trail at about 1,000 feet in a river valley. The bright color caught my eye. I thought it was a moss until I looked at it through my hand lens, then I knew it was a liverwort.
It took me the better part of a day to key it out, but I got there in the end.
I see this in the snow from time to time. I hope someone can tell me what they are. This one was at about 3,300 feet in a clear cut area with tiny hemlock saplings..
Growing epiphytically on TSHE, this specimen had fallen to the forest floor.
Podetia structure. Green stalk with with black apothecia. Stiff, ridgid, protruding. Growing on rocks near camp road. Found at Brown Creek; Mason Co WA.
F-TB03
Time: 1140
Altitude: 287m
Sunny, dry, warm weather for past two months
Three red-belted conchs found growing on one P. menziesii snag stump.
70% canopy: primarily Pseudostuga menziesii, Acer circinatum, Gautheria shallon
F-TB02
Time: 1254
Altitude: 287m
Sunny, dry, warm weather for past two months
Lobster mushroom infection of R. brevipes poking through humus and P. menziesii duff. Neighboring R. brevipes not parasitized by H. lactiforum.
75% canopy: primarily Pseudostuga menziesii, Acer circinatum, Gautheria shallon
F-TB01
Time: 1254
Altitude: 287m
Sunny, dry, warm weather for past two months
Short stiped white Russula poking through humus and P. menziesii duff. Neighboring R. brevipes parasitized by Hypomycetes lactiforum.
75% canopy: primarily Pseudostuga menziesii, Acer circinatum, Gautheria shallon
L-TB01
Time: 1254
Altitude: 287m
Sunny, dry, warm weather for past two months
Fruticose, tufted lichen grouped on south side of mature Pseudostuga menziesii. Sorediate podetia found bearing red apothecia up to 2 centimeters in height.
15% canopy: primarily Pseudostuga menziesii, Acer circinatum, Gautheria shallon
Cortex and Medulla +: K, P
-long pendulous fruticose lichen
-yellow-green color
-central cord present and large
-fibrils on branches
-branches > 1m length
-Substrate: Acer circinatum branch
-Habitat: mature conifer forest; on a slope with SE aspect
-Elevation: 700 ft.
White irregular rosette shaped cap with red/pink and brown discoloration. A large stick and other debris assimilated by the fruiting body. Stalk dark brown and buried. Found in thick needle duff at base of P.menzeseii.
White chantrelle with orange bruising on cap/stem. White veins beneath cap. Found scattered in small area on bryophyte mass/humus. Assoc. species: A.macrophyllum, salal, elk, P.menzeseii, T.plicata.
Funnel shaped polypore found growing on decomposing, bryophyte covered down woody debris and humus. Tawny cap with gradations/mottling of orange/drk.brown, pores cream or tawny. Assoc. species: P.menzeseii, T.heterophyla, T.plicata.
Orange cap, dark in the center with gradations toward the margin. Wavy margin, yellow gills, orange flesh. A small group growing out of a P. menzeseii snag. Assoc. species include: A. macrophyllum and T.plicata.
Growing from fallen, decayed Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).
10cm Long x 5cm Wide