Pseudotaxiphyllum elegans Elegant Silk-moss

A very common, dioicous, calcifuge, pleurocarpous moss which grows in shaded acidic woodlands often on steep clay or peaty banks and also in scree and rock crevices on sandstone cliffs. The pale-green colonies, made up of flattened glossy shoots, are reminiscent of a Plagiothecium species but differ in the occurrence among the normal shoots of very slender branchlets which act as vegetative propagules. It is found throughgout Britain, except for the more calcareous regions of southern England and it is ubiquitous in Wales. It is a very common moss in West Glamorgan, particularly in coalfield areas where it is a familiar component of acidic woodlands. It is a very shade-tolerant species and it is commonly found in the otherwise sparse ground flora that occurs under dense stands of Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis) in the plantations of Neath Port Talbot. Sporophyte capsules are rare.