E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Species description:
Species name referring to the leaf form where the upper portion bends outward and downward at right angles to the body of the leaf.

Reproduction:
Sporophytes occasional, red-brown, maturing in spring to summer.

Comments:
This is one of the most frequent lawn pests in cities and towns near the coast; its growth is enhanced through late-season lawn mowing and fertilization, since it grows during the wet winter when the grass is dormant.

Distinguishing characteristics:
The strongly and regularly squarrose leaves of the frequently erect main stems serve as useful characters. In open sites, branching is very irregular. Often plants in lawns or on stabilized dunes form turf-like carpets of erect plants.

Habit:
Forming loose mats of suberect shoots with strongly squarrose leaves, giving the shoot apex a star-like appearance when viewed from above; light green in colour with a tinge of red brown, especially in open areas.

Similar Species:
R. squarrosus is occasionally difficult to separate from R. loreus. R. squarrosus, however, regularly has squarrose leaves on the main stem and pleats are lacking or obscure in the leaves. R. squarrosus never possesses falcate-secund leaves at the main stem apex and is usually in open sites.