undergrowth

In the foreground: the dense, ferny undergrowth of a forest, bordered by a few gnarled tree trunks rising upward.

He followed a path through the undergrowth, passing old trees and mossy stones and thick brambles, and he stopped in a small clearing.

There were clumps of fur in the undergrowth and claw marks in the dirt.

Mr O'Brien says the film team made the environment look broken down, heavily overgrown with weeds and undergrowth, and with "almost a sense of rottenness inherent in the fabric of the building".

They crossed rivers on bamboo rafts hacked through thick undergrowth, and trudged on in subzero cold.