Identification notes
This handsome and common pleurocarp is one of several similar-looking neatly pinnate large mosses that often grow in dense patches. Others include Calliergonella cuspidata, Pseudoscleropodium purum and Cirriphyllum piliferum. The last two, however, lack the strikingly red stems of P. schreberi.
As so often with bryophytes, habitat context helps to place the species. P. schreberi is a good indicator of acid conditions, such as moorland, heath and acid grassland. Unlike C. cuspidata, it will very rarely be found in calcareous grassland, marsh or other base-rich places. It frequently shares its habitat with other large mosses including Hylocomium splendens, Polytrichum formosum, Rhytidiadelphus loreus, Hypnum jutlandicum and P. purum.
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