Syntrichia ruralis(Hedw.) F.Weber & D.Mohr

great hairy screw-mosstortula moss

WFO wfo-0001191362 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Rafael Medina
fig. a Rafael Medina, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-22 / obs. 199723048
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Shane Johnson
fig. b Shane Johnson, CC0 1.0 / obs. 201894841
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Randal
fig. c Randal, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200721119
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. d Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195028233
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. e Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190630252
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Grzegorz Grzejszczak
fig. f Grzegorz Grzejszczak, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 189269361
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Sean Vanderluit
fig. g Sean Vanderluit, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188117874
Syntrichia ruralis, photographed by Tristan Jobin
fig. h Tristan Jobin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187583005

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Also published as 87 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Barbula papillinervis Müll.Hal. & Kindb.
  • Barbula papillosissima Copp.
  • Barbula pseudoaciphylla Kindb.
  • Barbula pulvinata subsp. papillinervis (Müll.Hal. & Kindb.) Kindb.
  • Barbula rufipila Cardot & Thér.
  • Barbula ruraliformis Besch.
  • Barbula ruraliformis var. gigantea Farneti
  • Barbula ruralis Hedw.
  • Barbula ruralis subsp. alaskana Kindb.
  • Barbula ruralis subsp. ruraliformis (Besch.) Boulay
  • Barbula ruralis var. californica Sull. ex Paris
  • Barbula ruralis var. densiretis Venturi
  • Barbula ruralis var. elongata Roum.
  • Barbula ruralis var. epilosa Venturi
  • Barbula ruralis var. gigantea Lesq.
  • Barbula ruralis var. hirsuta Venturi
  • Barbula ruralis var. ruraliformis (Besch.) Husn.
  • Bryum rurale (Hedw.) With.
  • Syntrichia densa (Velen.) J.-P.Frahm
  • Syntrichia papillosissima (Copp.) Loeske
  • Syntrichia reflexa R.H.Zander
  • Syntrichia ruraliformis (Besch.) Mans.
  • Syntrichia ruraliformis var. subpapillosissima (Bizot & R.B.Pierrot ex Pócs) Ochyra
  • Syntrichia ruralis f. brevipila (Warnst.) Podp.

and 63 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite. It has no native range either: Kew's checklist does not cover this taxon.