Pogonatum aloides Aloe Haircap

A dioicous, calcifuge, acrocarpous moss which is a pioneer colonist of bare soils on often vertical clay banks, cuttings, peaty soils and sometimes on fixed dunes. It often grows with other calcifuge colonists such as Nardia scalaris, Solenostoma gracillimum, Diplophyllum albicans and Dicranella heteromalla. Individual plants have neat, miniature aloe-like rosettes of leaves but they become particularly conspicuous when they have their mature, cylindrical capsules which have, pale, hairy calyptras and white tops which are revealed when the calyptras are shed. Pogonatum nanum is similar but has short, almost spherical capsules and is much less common. Aloe Haircap is a very common moss in western and northern Britain, including Wales, but scarce and decling in much of England. In West Galmorgan it is a species of base-poor soils in the South Wales Coalfield and is relatively scarce in much of Gower. Sporophyte capsules are usually abundant in winter and spring.