Fauna and Flora– Alishan

I wouldn’t have noticed this if one of the girls in our group hadn’t posed it for me.  I have no idea where she found it.

This was in a kitchen garden in a little town we stopped by on our way back down the mountain.   Any ideas on what it is?

Magnolias

Overhead.

Anyone know what the orange stuff is?

Alishan Tree Textures

The stumps and the shapes of the trees here remind me of driftwood at times without the wearing smoothness of the sea.

The sheer variety of mosses and things growing on the trees amazed me.

This tree was probably recently unwrapped from its protective sleeve, considering the horizontal striations–

which many of the trees have to protect them from zealous tourists taking bark shreds for souvenirs I think…

Otherwise they’d look more like this:

With vines…

Or this… The little spidery plants growing in the bark look like those aero plants that were a fad back in the US– people were supposed to put them in a glass bowl and leave them in the bathroom I believe.

More feathery moss!