Polytrichum longisetum Slender Haircap

A dioicous acrocarpous moss that is a colonist of bare ground such as cut peat and bare exposed areas on heathland and moorland, often growing with Campylopus introflexus. It is very similar to Polytrichum formosum and probably often misidentified for it and consequently under recorded. It differs from that species in its obscurely angled capsules and the leaf lamina on either side of the nerve in mid leaf being at least 6 cells wide (2-5 cells wide in Polytrichum formosum). Although uncommon it has a distribution throughout Britain and has a scattered distribution in south Wales, but it is often only found in small quantities. There are few records in West Glamorgan. Sporophyte capsules are frequent in summer.