Tortella tortuosa Frizzled Crisp-moss

A large, yellow-green, dioicous acrocarpous moss which which grows on calcareous rocks, walls, calcareous sands and other base rich substrates, including sandstones. The long, pointed leaves are conspicuously undulated, or wavy and become tightly contorted and twisted when dry giving plants a frizzled appearance. With a hand lens it is is usually possible to see a sharp V-shaped transition between the basal cells, which are colourless, and the upper, green cells of the leaf. It has a distict western and northern distribution in Britain and it is widesptread in Wales. In West Galmorgan it is found on the limestone of the south Gower coast and on calcareous boulders, walls, base-rich sandstones and coal tips in Neath Port Talbot. Sporophyte capsules are rare but occur occasionally where there are large populations.