A moss whose stiff grey-green leaves resemble juniper needles and each ends in a red-brown tip
Juniper haircap — not a flowering plant.
Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants
Juniper haircap
Native moss · shoots 3–4 cm · dry acid heath, burnt ground and spoil
Polytrichum juniperinum — Polytrichaceae
Juniper haircap is one of the hair mosses (haircap mosses, genus Polytrichum), a moss and therefore not a flowering plant: it has no flowers, no seeds and no true roots, and reproduces by spores from capsules on stalks. It forms tidy, grey-green patches of stiff, needle-like leaves on dry acid ground and is a classic pioneer on burnt heath and freshly disturbed soil. The name 'haircap' comes from the hairy cap, or calyptra, that covers the young spore capsule.
How to spot them
- ▸Unbranched, erect stems 3–4 cm tall bearing stiff, grey-green, needle-like leaves like a miniature juniper twig
- ▸Leaf tip reddish-brown and margins strongly rolled inwards, and stems often reddish
- ▸Four-angled, box-like spore capsule with a crimson beaked lid on a reddish stalk 2–5 cm long in summer
- ▸Male plants end in small bright reddish-orange cups that look like tiny flowers but are not
- ▸Look-alike: bristly haircap has a whitish hair-point on each leaf; common haircap is much taller and greener
How to know it
Among the first plants to colonise burnt heath and freshly disturbed acid soil
Juniper haircap — a pioneer moss.
Its young spore capsule wears a hairy cap, giving the whole group its name
Juniper haircap — the calyptra.
Male plants bear reddish-orange cups at the tips that resemble small flowers, though the plant has no flowers
Juniper haircap — the splash cups.
A four-angled capsule with a crimson beaked lid on a reddish stalk appears in summer
Juniper haircap — Polytrichum juniperinum.
Quick-fire facts
- •Mosses are not flowering plants: they belong to the Bryophyta and reproduce by spores, not seeds
- •A moss stem has no true roots, only rhizoids that anchor it; the plant is haploid for most of its life and the spore capsule is the short-lived diploid stage
- •Frequent and widespread across Britain on dry, acid soils, according to NatureSpot
- •Found on heaths, grassland, quarry spoils, forestry tracks and wall tops, and as a pioneer on burnt ground
- •In the Polytrichaceae the leaves carry photosynthetic lamellae and the stem has specialised water-conducting tissue, making these among the tallest mosses
- •Haircap refers to the hairy calyptra that covers the capsule before it ripens
- •The name juniperinum means 'like juniper', from the leaves that resemble juniper needles
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Sources
- NatureSpot — Juniper Haircap (Polytrichum juniperinum)