Fox-tail Feather-moss

A rather tatty, dirty, rat’s-tail kind of moss…that seems unfair, but although it has bright green tips, the lower leaves and branches tend to look more dingy.  A matt, feathery moss which grows thickly in dark, damp places.  Here, on a wall deep in a shady wood.

And here, on a boulder in the middle of a burn running through a wood.

I’ve often seen it growing along burnside walls, just above the water.

The individual plants are like little trees, although often growing upside-down.

The stems are bare and scaly, and then the top explodes into life.  The leaves are pointed egg-shapes, with a strong nerve.

It creates thick mats on the damp shady surfaces.

Most of these pictures taken in Keil’s Den and Maspie Den, Fife.