It looks like someone spilled a box of green thread. Rosulabryum capillare has stems that are thin, wiry, and sprawling. Reaching one to three centimetres in length. The leaves are small, oval-shaped, and arranged in a loose spiral around the stem. The colour is reddish-green to bright green. Often with a reddish tinge at the base. It forms loose, sprawling mats. They weave through the soil. Threading their way between grass blades and through cracks in the pavement. It is the moss of the tangled thread. The one that looks like it has been scattered by a careless hand. What makes it special is the threadiness. Thread moss is one of the most delicate-looking mosses in New Zealand. Its stems are thin and wiry. Like fine thread or fishing line. The leaves are small and sparse. Giving the plant an open, airy appearance. It does not form dense cushions like other mosses. It sprawls, creeps, and threads its way through the soil. Weaving a loose green web over the ground. It is the moss of the delicate web. The one that is easy to overlook but impossible to ignore once you see it. The leaves are oval-shaped with a pointed tip. They have a long, hair-like tip called an awn. It extends beyond the leaf tip. These awns give the leaves a bristly, thread-like appearance. Adding to the overall delicacy of the plant. Under a hand lens, the awns are visible. Tiny glassy threads extending from the leaf tips. Biologically, the thread moss reproduces by spores. Released from capsules on short stalks. The capsules are pear-shaped and drooping. Hanging from the stem like tiny bells. It also reproduces by fragmentation. Pieces broken off can grow into new plants. It is a pioneer species. Often one of the first mosses to colonise bare ground. To find thread moss is to find the fine, wiry web on the bare soil. It is thin, thread-like, and sprawling. A living embroidery on the ground. You can see the way it weaves through the soil. The way it threads between grass blades. It is the moss of the tangled thread. The one that looks like someone spilled a box of green thread and left it to grow. The one that proves that the most delicate things can be the toughest. No recorded Māori name distinguishes the thread moss from other mosses. Mosses were generally called pūkohu or rimu. The fine, wiry moss on the bare soil would have been noticed. It looked like the thread of the forest. Like the hair of the earth. No distinct name survives. The thread moss was sometimes used as a stuffing material. The fine, wiry stems were gathered and dried. Then used to stuff pillows or cushions.