Racomitrium canescens Hoary Fringe-moss

A rare, dioicous acrocarpous moss which grows in dry, calcareous, sandy or stony habitats such as dune grasslands, sandy heaths and gravelly rock ledges. It is similar to Racomitrium ericoides but has wider leaves with a nerve that is wide but becomes obscure and hardly visible towards the leaf apex and it is found in different, more base-rich habitats. Plants invariably have a long white, hyaline hair point at the tip of the leaves which makes them very conspicuous. It is a Boreo-arctic montane species with a widely scattered but rather sparse distribution in Britain. It is very rare in Wales with most of its known sites in Glamorgan (VC41). In West Glamorgan, it is only known from dune habitats in the vicinity of Pennard, south Gower. Sporophyte capsules are rare.