Racomitrium aciculare Yellow Fringe-moss

A dioicous, acrocarpous moss which forms dark green (sometimes blackish) cushions on wet rocks and boulders on the banks of fast flowing streams and rivers. In high rainfall upland locations it is also found on rocks away from water courses especially where palnts are at least occasionally flushed or recieve some degree of irrigation. Unlike Racomitrium aquaticum, which it resembles superficially, its leaves have a blunt, rounded tip that usually have a few teeth. It is a Suboceanic species with a western and northern distribution in Britain where it is widespread and common. It is found throughout Wales and it is widely distributed and frequent in the valleys of the South Wales Coalfield in West Glamorgan, but less common in Gower. Sporophyte capsules are common in spring.