 |
rocks in Afon Dulais with abundant Schistidium rivulare |
A friendly (and slightly bemused) farmer at Glynrhigos Farm kindly permitted access for me to record along the Afon Dulais section that passes through SN70R today and I must say despite the rain, it was nice to spend an hour and a half bryologising in the evening, finishing at 7:30pm. The main highlight from this square-bash was a 15cm x 15cm mound of
Leucobryum juniperoideum (confirmed by leaf section - photos below) wedged in a root gap at the base of an oak. Other species of interest included
Calypogeia muelleriana, Chiloscyphus pallescens, Lejeuanea patens, Nowellia curvifolia, Orthodontium lineare, Plagiomnium rostratum,
Schistidium rivulare &
Trichostomum tenuirostre. The square is now on 85 (in fact now 91 after this morning's additional dets.), but a future visit to grassy heaths and coniferous plantations on higher ground at Mynydd Marchywel, plus more epiphyte recording (poorly sampled today) should comfortably take the square over 100.
 |
Leucobryum juniperoideum at base of oak |
 |
lower part of the L. juniperoideum mound |
 |
L. juniperoideum leaf sections |
 |
Trichostomum tenuirostre |
Well done Barry, that's a tough square, so if you get it over 100 that would be excellent. I think all the previous records were from a small section of the Cilfrew/Crynant road.
ReplyDeleteAny Leucobryum is a good record for NPT. We recorded L. glaucum not too far away from there but I wonder now whether it might have been L. juniperoideum. I didn't look at leaf sections at the time, but I kept some dried samples as vouchers, so I'd better check that out. Watch this space!
Yes, I must confess that I wasn't that convinced by the proportions of the narrow/broad leaf parts as a good character, as these were both long and short with everything in-between, but the leaf section is pretty convincing - I look forward to finding out what your leaf sections reveal...
ReplyDelete