At first sight I mistook this low growing pearlwort for Minuartia verna (Spring Sandwort) which is a bit more tufted but actually tends to grow either on basic soils or on spoil heaps. In the U.S. this plant is known as Irish or Scotch Moss and can be bought from garden centres as a freely flowering perennial. The distribution of Sagina subulata in the UK is western coastal and Northern England or Scotland if inland. There are few records for central and eastern England.

Sagina subulata has a strange distribution with a pocket of records around London but elsewhere in southern and south eastern England being quite scarce. It is found in western England (Cornwall) and Wales with just a few outposts in the east or centre but it is common on north western England and northern Scotland. In Ireland it is only found in numbers on the coast in the north and west.

Acid heath near Trearddur Bay, Anglesey 14th May 2005

Added on September 29th 2005, updated 24th January 2012, updated 17th Nov 2014