English: Ground Moss; Hair cap moss; Juniper Haircap.
German: Holzschlag-Haarmützenmoos.
Source: Boericke.
Habitat: common; dry, exposed, acidic; pioneer on recently disturbed or burnt, acidic soils; in freely draining habitats, especially in lowland areas; dry, grassy heaths, grassland, fixed dunes, spoil on quarries and collieries, forestry tracks, soil-capped walls, boulder tops; sometimes on leached soil overlying limestone, gravelly graves.
BotanyGrowth form: acrocarp.
A medium-sized Polytrichum, forming extensive, open patches
Stems: shoots unbranched, erect, reddish, 3 to 4 cm tall.
Leaves: about 1 cm long; evenly spaced, greyish-green, with untoothed margins, distinctive, red-brown tip; leaf margins are strongly inrolled, and the leaves are slightly flexed and appressed to the stem, the whole shoot becoming sharply pointed and slightly glaucous in appearance when dry; male plants are very conspicuous in spring, with their bright, reddish-orange, modified leaves forming small terminal ‘flowers’ at the shoot ends.
Capsules: erect to sub-erect, commonly in summer; usually 4-angled, with a crimson, beaked lid, on a reddish seta 2 to 5 cm long.