Spiky Bog-moss - Sphagnum squarrosum

Robust, bright green, spiky-looking plants. Branch leaves, wide in the basal half, are abruptly contracted to a pointed, tapering, tubular tip, which is distinctly curved away from the branch. The terminal bud is large and conical, immersed or slightly projecting above the rest of the capitulum. Stem leaves are large, rectangular, broad across the tip and weak and floppy. Capsules are common.

Typically found in swampy ground that is moderately to well-enriched with nutrients, such as in wet woodland, or amongst sedges (Carex), rushes (Juncus) or purple moor-grass (Molinia), for example on stream banks, in ditches, or in flushes on moorland.

All year round.

Widespread and fairly frequent in Britain, but less common in parts of central and eastern England.

Status in Leicestershire and Rutland not known.