Syntrichia papillosa Marble Screw-moss

A dioicous, acrocarpous moss which mostly grows on tree trunks but also occasionally on walls and increasingly on tarmac. The broadly oval leaves have incurved margins and an excurrent nerve. One of its most distinctive features are the clusters of spherical gemmae that occur in the upper part of the leaf. When dry, plants don't become twisted like many other Syntrichia species do, but become tightly incurved. It has a scattered but rather patchy distribution in Britain, predominantly southern, and is rather local and largely coastal in Wales. It is scattered in West Glamorgan and be expanding its range on tarmac in the county. Sporophyte capsules are unknown in Britain.