Great masses of moss can build up around the lower parts of the trunks of oak trees here in the south-western Highlands where the climate is very wet but also mild. Heath bedstraw (Galium saxatile) and blaeberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) can creep up through those thick moss mats, the blaeberry looking like an epiphyte where bunches of its leafy shoots stick out from the moss well above ground level. The purplish colour further up the trunks and on the branches is mainly a liverwort called Frullania tamarisci. (Epiphyte = a plant growing on another plant.)

Details: Coloured pencil; 2010; 30 cm x 21 cm. Unframed: original £150; print £30.

Included in the gallery Trees 1