Red-Roof Moss (Fire Moss)

Ceratodon purpureus - Plants dark green to olive-green, forming cushions and small turfs 1.5-5 cm high; stems unbranched, upright. Leaves 1-4 mm long, wide-spreading, curved backwards when moist, contorted when dry, oblong-lance-shaped, broadly pointed; edges flat, with few irregular teeth at the tip; edges slender, ending near the tip; upper cells rounded, strongly bulging and papillose; lower cells long, smooth. Found in wet or moist habitats, especially wet stream banks (where the species grows on rock surfaces), gravelly soils and moist crevices, common from sea level to the alpine.