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Saturday, 16 January 2016

Lepidozia cupressina at Taffs Well?

As George mentioned in his earlier post, a small group of us went to see the Bazzania at Mountain Ranch this morning.  This time taking a working GPS to get a better fix on the plant's location.  We were rewarded by finding another decent-sized patch.
The mystery Lepidozia I noticed during my initial visit was completely undetectable the first time we looked at the patch, because of the frost.  We returned a few hours later after the area had thawed and found it without any trouble. It appears to be L.cupressina, which I think would be a good find if it was.  It has overlapping stem leaves that cross the centre line so the stem is not visible from above, and closely packed underleaves. However, none of us have seen this before so it would nice to get it confirmed by someone who has!









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10 comments:

  1. Barry Stewart16 January 2016 at 22:00

    I've never seen it, but I'll be amazed if Sam does not give it the thumbs up - what an excellent find and what a great site it is turning out to be on your doorstep.

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  2. sambbryo17 January 2016 at 08:24

    Very well done, Peter. It is undoubtably L cupressina - an excellent county first! It grows alongside Bazzania in the Blorenge screes, also with Anastrophyllum minutum there. In order to make an official VCR a stem or two need to go to the BBSUK herbarium. Did anyone collect a bit?

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  3. Charles Hipkin17 January 2016 at 10:30

    An excellent discovery Peter and a really significant addition to the flora of Glamorgan. It sounds like a textbook habitat for it.

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  4. GMT17 January 2016 at 10:30

    Also new for ST I think!

    I wonder if any of the nearby valleys on the ridgeway could be suitable for it? Many of them are probably too calcareous.

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  5. Unknown17 January 2016 at 15:30

    That's very good news. Thank you very much for confirming. I did collect a bit but I'm afraid I'm not a BBS member so I'm not sure where this has to go. Please let me know. Perhaps I could pass it on via one of you who is a member so you can have a look at it before it gets filed away?

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  6. Unknown17 January 2016 at 15:34

    Sounds as though it might be worth a search for Anastrophyllum too.

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  7. sambbryo17 January 2016 at 18:07

    I am Narional Recorder for Liverworts, so please send a small voucher to me for checking and logging. New VCR mosses would need to go to Tom Blockeel (recorder for Mosses).

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  8. sambbryo17 January 2016 at 19:09

    If I'm reading correctly, this site is too wooded to be typical for Anastrophyllum minutum. The Blorenge sites are open block scree. However, the Taff's Well site could hold other notable species that are present on conglomerate boulders in the Wye Valley woodlands, eg Jamesoniella autumnalis.

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  9. sambbryo22 January 2016 at 20:56

    Peter has sent me a small voucher specimen, which is without doubt Glamorgan's first Lepidozia cupressina!

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