Rhynchostegium murale Wall Feather-moss

An autoicous, calcicole, pleurocarpous moss which grows on rocks, especially lmestone and walls where there is mortar and particularly on calcareous stones on the ground in woodland and other places where there is light shade. It resembles Rhynchostegium confertum but the shoots have short branches with deeply concave, closely overlapping leaves which give them a cylindrical appearance, somewhat like Scleropodium tourettii, However, unlike that species it often has capsules which are curved with a conspicuous long beaked lid (see photos). It has a widespread distribution in Britain, patchy in mid and north Wales and absent from much of Scotland. In West Glamorgan it occurs on shaded limestone rocks and boulders in Gower and elsewhere mostly on old walls. Sporophyte capsules are frequent in winter and spring.