Sunday 13 November 2016

Rhymney Riverbank revisited

On Friday I returned to the arable field by the Rhymney (ST2282) to collect hornwort samples for Cambridge University Botanic Garden. After bagging up some nice rosettes of both Anthoceros and Phaeoceros, I continued along the riverbank path to an area of woodland (just north of the M4). This resulted in an additional 16 species for the VC41 part of this tetrad (taking the total to 74 taxa), with minor highlights being a 20x10cm patch of Neckera pumila on a riverbank alder and a small patch of Pseudephemerum nitidum on the root plate of a fallen tree (a drier situation than I imagined for this species, see photo).

Back home, I was relieved to finally locate some male organs on the Anthoceros thalli, the dimensions of which confirmed these as A. agrestis.


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