Campylopus flexuosus

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Identification notes

Campylopus species are – perhaps fairly – perceived as difficult by some. However, a plant can usually be readily recognised as a Campylopus from the long, awl-like leaves which have a nerve that occupies a third or more of the width of the leaf base.

C. flexuosus is a much-overlooked plant that is really quite common, at least in western areas. Helpfully, it has two stand-out features that will help to identify it in the field. First, plants often have strange-looking bunches of deciduous shoots at their tips (there’s a photo of this below) which serve as vegetative propagules. Many species of Campylopus have vegetative propagules, but most lose leaves, or shoots.

Red/orange colouration is often present in stems and also in the well-developed leaf auricles, a feature that can easily be seen with a hand-lens if you are dexterous enough to strip off stem leaves in the field.

Read the Field Guide account

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland

View distribution from the BBS Atlas 2014

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