Racomitrium lanuginosum
Distinguishing Features
Exceedingly common in open habitats, this is a large grey-green carpet-forming moss. It is immediately recognizable by a grey frosted appearance when dry due to its long white-tipped, and coarsely toothed leaves borne on upright and variously branched shoots.
Similar species
Other rock mosses in the Grimmiaceae are similar but differ in the size and organization of the shoots. Members of the Genus Grimmia are usually smaller and grow in orderly cushions over rock. Other species of Racomitrium (R. elongatum, R. ericoides, R. muticum, and R. canescens) are similar in growth form but the large serrated teeth on the leaf tips of R. lanuginosum separate it from all others.
Habitat
Dry, open, rocky habitats; also bog and tundra hummocks, and mineral soil from lowlands to alpine; common in coastal BC, infrequent elsewhere east of the Coast-Cascade Mts. [except absent from ne BC east of the Rocky Mountains].
Associated species
Depends on habitat but in rocky areas commonly with Racomitrium elongatum, R. heterostichum, Polytrichum piliferum, P. juniperinum, P. commune, Dicranum howellii, D. scoparium; in bogs Sphagnum.