Thursday 28 January 2016

substrum?

I enjoyed an extended lunch break at Craig y Parc wood, near Creigiau, today, with the intention of topping up ST08V. I did some recording before Christmas in calcareous woodland elsewhere in this tetrad, so the fact that Craig y Parc was mostly dull as ditchwater - dry acidic mixed woodland with low bryophyte diversity - didn't matter too much as many of the species were at least new for the tetrad.

Interest was greater in the eastern part of the wood where there was a small stream which must have had some basic influence, with a nice range of species including a large frilly-edged form of Aneura pinguis, a small patch of Hookeria lucens, Pellia endiviifolia and Cratoneuron filicinum.

I checked numerous conifer stumps with Sematophyllum substrumulosum in mind, but all I found was Hypnum, small amounts of Lophocolea heterophylla and one patch of Riccardia chamaedrys...until one of the last stumps I checked revealed a patch of what I think is the real deal...it seems to have all the hallmarks (apart from the brownish leaf base): short red setae, long-beaked capsules, nerveless leaves with enlarged alar cells. Surely this has to be it? Confirmation (or not) would be much appreciated!




 

7 comments:

  1. Looks spot on to me George, you've beaten me too it - congratulations!

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  2. Well done George - that's substrum. I think I only had it once in Glamorgan, or perhaps not at all. I know I've seen it a couple of times in Carms and in SW, mid and NE Mons. It's widespread but takes a lot of hunting!

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  3. Thanks all. Yes, I must have checked 20+ stumps and found it on just the one.

    Sam - would it be a new VC record if you haven't recorded it already? It's not shown for VC41 on the County Lists tab on the blog.

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  4. I'm pretty sure it is a new VCR George, unless Sam saw it last year. I say you beat me to it as a couple of weeks back I started specifically searching for it, but without any joy ... I'll keep on searching buoyed by your success.

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  5. Thanks Barry - will send a sample to Tom then, unless I hear otherwise from Sam.

    Yes it must be in your area somewhere, I guess it's the kind of species where you need a bit of luck to chance across it.

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  6. I don't think I did any targeted Sem sub searching in Glam last year so you're right - an excellent nvcr. Sorry for confusion. I got muddled with the Hensol Herzogiella.

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