Breutelia chrysocoma Golden-head Moss

A very attractive, dioicous, acrocarpous moss of banks in wet moorland, streamsides and other humid sites, mostly in the uplands. Its bottle-brush form with sparkling shoot tips make it a conspicuous plant when it grows in large colonies. It is a northern oceanic species and a good indicator of Atlantic or hyperoceanic conditions and, as might be expected, it has a strong western and northern distribution in Britain. Roy Perry described it as a rare species of wet rock ledges in Flora of Glamorgan but some new sites for it have been discovered in recent years in West Glamorgan where it may be increasing its range, particularly on humid banks along forest roads in Neath Port Talbot. It is a characteristic species of the waterfall spray zones in the upper Vale of Neath. Sporophyte capsules are rare.