Oxyrrhynchium hians Swartz's Feather-moss

A dioicous, pleurocarpous moss which grows in lots of different, usually base-rich habitats including woodland, hedgebanks, grassland and rock. It often grows along woodland trails. It has a variable appearance, rather nondescript and somewhat scruffy. Some older bryophyte guides compare it to Kindbergia praelonga (both were included in Eurynchium) but it is generally quite unlike that species with its straggling stems with wideley spaced, egg-shaped, sharply-toothed leaves. It is very common in Britain, except for the far north and it is widespread and abundant in Wales. In West Glamorgan it is widespread in Gower and well recorded in the coalfield valleys but it is mostly a lowland species and is scarce in the coniferised uplands. Sporophyte capsules are rare.