Thursday, 11 December 2014

Possible Weissia rutilans

On the way back from a site visit to Mewslade today I stopped off in SS48T at Scurlage (a square dominated by arable and little else) in an attempt to add to the paltry 29 species recorded there. I grabbed a sample from a fruiting patch of Weissia with seemingly plane leaf margins that was growing on a bare patch of loamy soil in the centre of the track amongst low grasses. Expecting it to be W. brachycarpa var brachycarpa, I was surprised to find it had a rudimentary peristome when I pulled an operculum off first one then two capsules. The leaves are heavily coated in crud and few seem a little inrolled, so very much a provisional id for now. I'll post some pics later for comments.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! I can't think what else it could be. W. controversa and W. perssonii are usually very inrolled. Excellent record!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice one Barry. Is that 3rd county record?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great, glad you agree as it keyed out without any ambiguity. Yes, third record according to my records.

    ReplyDelete