Hylocomium splendens Glittering Wood-moss

A robust, dioicous pleurocarpous moss which grows in acidic habitats such as heaths and moors, open woodland and grasslands. The bipinnate structure of the shoots and the red stems make it quite distinctive and it usually grows in quite large mats or mounds. It could be confued with Thuidium tamariscinum which also has a bipinnate shoot structure but that species does not have red stems and is usually a paler green colour. Pleurozium schreberi is another pleurocarpous moss of heaths and moors which also has red stems, but its shoots don't have a bipinnate structure. It is widespread and common in Wales and northern Britain but absent or rare in middle and southeastern areas of England. It is found throughout West Glamorgan in dry acidic habitats and is frequent in the uplands of Neath Port Talbot, particularly in banks along forest roads at the edges of Sitka Spruce forests. Sporophyte capsules are very rare.