Haircap Moss

A clump of Hair-cap moss, photographed 05/27/2010Family: Polytrichaceae (Hair Moss / Haircap Moss Family)

Genus: Polytrichum | Species: commune

Description: Shoots are perennial, leafy, and typically form dense mats throughout a cranberry bed (especially along the banks of drainage ditches, bed margins, and bare areas) due to their vegetative mode of reproduction, whereby shoots are sent out laterally from the bases of existing stems; May also reproduce sexually via spores produced within terminal capsules that are borne by single thread-like stalks rising up from the leafy portions of the primary stalks. [evergreen perennial]

Habitat: Acidic, moist areas;

Production of spore-producing stalks: May into June

A clump of Hair-cap moss, photographed 5/27/2010 Closeup of some of the caps grown up from a patch of Hair-cap moss.