Identification notes
This beautiful moss is alone in our Racomitrium species in preferring strongly lime-rich substrates where it is frequently associated with Flexitrichum gracile and other calcicoles. Its strikingly white hair-points are very obvious and contrast with the rest of the leaf. It is one of a group of three similar-looking species that form ‘lawns’ of erect, much-branched shoots with numerous short, stubby branches. They all have matt-looking leaves and this is because their leaf cells are densely papillose (and amazing to look at in transverse section as the photos below show). The other two – R. ericoides and R. elongatum – look similar but are more commonly plants of acid substrates.
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