Plasteurhynchium striatulum Lesser Striated Feather-moss

A dark green, dioicous pleurocarpous moss which grows on limestone rock, usually in shaded woodland habitats. Unlike Eurhynchium striatum, which it resembles, it almost always grows on rock and it is a strict calcicole. It also has a more bushy, somewhat dendroid growth form that resembles Isothecium myosuroides but it is a darker green with a more spiky appearance than that species and its leaves are wrinkled. It is a scarce species in Britain with scattered, disjunct occurrences mostly in the west, including coastal regions of south and north Wales. In West Glamorgan it is largely restricted to Gower where it is found on limestone boulders in the Gower Ash Woodlands. Sporophyte capsules are occasional in spring.