English name: Great hairy screw-moss
An acrocarpous moss that forms bright, golden green cushions or turfs. The leaves are somewhat tongue-shaped, with a rounded tip, and the slightly convex sides are almost recurved to that tip. The nerve extends into a long, silvery, and toothed hair point. When moist, the relatively large leaves are strongly curved away from the stem, when dry, they are twisted.
In Scotland, Syntrichia ruralis has a scattered, mostly easterly and coastal distribution and is found on calcareous and ruderal substrata like walls, rocks, gravelly tracks and sandy ground. BBS distribution map
Look out for Barbula unguiculata and Didymodon insulanus nearby.
Confusion species: Syntrichia intermedia, Syntrichia ruraliformis and Tortula muralis
scottishlichens.co.uk 