Identification notes

This inconspicuous and straggly-looking pleurocarp is easily dismissed as Hygroamblystegium varium or even an odd-looking form of Kindbergia or Cratoneuron filicinum but in its own way it  is quite distinctive.

Its habitat provides a clue to its identity – it is a species of heavy, often wet clay where it straggles around on the ground. Its leaves are very well spaced out along the stem and although they are quite a typical Amblystegium shape, they are distinctly narrowed where the leaf meets the stem. H. humile is a poor competitor and should be sought in places where some kind of periodic disturbance e.g. livestock poaching, fluctuating water levels and even cultivation keep larger and more vigorous vascular plants and bryophytes in check.

Distribution in Great Britain and Ireland

Though probably genuinely scarce, H. humile is likely to be overlooked, especially in grazed flood-plains. Recent surveys in the Somerset Levels have shown that it is a frequent moss of cattle-poached soft ground at the edge of wet ditches.