Philonotis caespitosa Tufted Apple-moss

A pale-green, dioicous, acrocarpous moss which grows on wet rocks which are flooded by water from springs and streams, on dripping rocks, along the edges of lakes and reservoirs or in marshy grasslands. It is not easy to identify and is easily confused with small forms of Philonotis fontana, but unlike that species the leaves do not have longtitudinal ridges (i.e. they are not plicate) and the teeth on the margins of the mature leaves are single. It is rather poorly recorded in Britain but it is scattered mostly in the west and north. It is predominantly a western species in Wales and there are few records from West Glamorgan. Sporophyte capsules are very rare.