Mellte Valley Photo-trip

 I didn't have a good photograph of Solenostoma sphaerocarpum, so yesterday afternoon H and I went to see the nice little colony that Barry found in the Mellte Valley a few days ago.

 Solenostoma sphaerocarpa, Mellte Valley

 The winged perianth with a short beak, and the circular leaves, are distinctive.

Further up the valley we caught up with the Dicranum montanum that I remember from the Mellte trip led by Sam a few years ago. I didn't get a chance to photograph it then, so it was nice to get it again on a few trees near the trail.

Dicranum montanum, Mellte Valley

Some of you will also remember the remarkable riverside site nearby with both Tunbridge and Wilson's Filmy-fern growing within feet of each other.

Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, Mellte Valley

Hymenophyllum wilsonii, Mellte Valley

Have camera, will travel

A couple of bryo-twitches in the last few days enabled me to tick and learn three of my target species for 2018; Campylopus subulatus and Sphenolobopsis pearsonii on Friday and Seligeria campylopoda today. The Sphenolobopsis site on the Hepste below Sgwd-yr-Eira was really quite spectacular, especially after the recent rains. The population seemed quite healthy based on Graham and Sam's site report and I couldn't help wondering if some of the dark patches on some of the inaccessible cliffs might also support this species.

As per Sam's comment in the previous post  by Charles, the Campylopus subulatus site at Pontneddfechan is very different to the forest track sites. In addition to the Campylopus, there was a surprisingly rich assemblage of associates growing in the gritty deposits of the huge rock mass in the river (which presumably floods or is sprayed in full spate). These included Anomobryum julaceum (photo below), Blepharostoma trichophyllum and Lophozia excisa, though the latter looked a bit different to material I've seen previously, so I've attached a photo for comment in case I've made a mistake. Some male bracts with developing antheridia were evident, so I presume these are just sexually ripening shoots.

Today's pit-stop in the Wye for Seligeria campylopoda, at the site suggested by Sam last year, was frustrated by the fact that I'd remembered my camera, but I'd forgotten my hand-lens! Thankfully the unripe curved setae were easily visible and every one of the half dozen rocks I looked at held the moss in variable abundance. The record shot I took of the site shows there is now a lot more brash at this location, though not at a level likely to affect the Seligeria.

Another new species for me (if verified), growing on the same shaley dripping cliff on the Mellte where Bartramia ithyphylla is known, was what I'm pretty sure is Solenostoma sphaerocarpum (voucher retained). Paroicous with spherical perianths (one visible in image below) and bright green rounded leaves are some of the characters which point to this species. Features under the microscopic all conformed nicely too.

Campylopus subulatus

While going through some of the NPT forest road records in MapMate I noticed that there was a record of Campylopus fragilis for Nant y Cafn  attributed to H and me. After checking my vouchers I found a packet labelled 'Campylopus fragilis or Campylopus subulatus in calcareous grassy verge near forest track, Nany Cafn (23/4/17)'. Clearly I hadn't nailed this. So we went up to the site yesterday to collect some fresh specimens. The photo below (taken last April) shows the plants in situ. There is a very large population in the vicinity of SN81610756 which is very conspicuous and although on close inspection it is obviously a Campylopus, the colony has a bright yellowish-green colour which looks a bit like Ditrichum gracile from distance.

The plants are rather short-leaved and there is no tomentum. Deciduous shoot tips are abundant all over the colony.

The leaves have no auricles to speak of, there is a wide costa (at least 70% of leaf width at base) and the thin-walled basal cells are linear/rectangular. The alar cells are larger but not differentiated greatly fro the basal cells and not thick-walled and pigmented like those of Campylopus flexuosus.

A section of the costa shows the large adaxial cells which occupy about 35- 40% of costa thickness and the absence of stereid cells. The leaf tip has a few distinctive teeth.

 So, it looks like Campylopus subulatus, which is a nice record for NPT. However,  I see that Sam and Graham recorded it in the Nedd Fechan Valley a few years ago, so it is not new for VC41. Sam has also recorded it in Brechfa, although I'm not sure whether that is a forest road record.  I think it's worth keeping an eye open for this species which may be under recorded. The copious production of deciduous shoot tips suggests that it could spread easily along suitable forest tracks.
I'll amend the record in Map Mate.

Stumped on the hard shoulder

Apologies for bringing this post to the top, but it's an intriguing taxon worth bringing attention to (additional text shown yellow). Using the key to North American Didymodon I was taken on a pretty unambiguous journey to australasiae, a taxon which appears to be recognised in other parts of Europe as well as North America. The last part of the key identifies the key characters separating this species from umbrosus, which even with my limited experience, really looks very different and distinctions are clear. Interestingly David Holyoak's comments on Cornish material indicates that both australasiae and umbrosus occur there, both even confirmed by DNA. Given all this information I'm confused as to why australasiae is not included on the British list.

For the record the following additional images show the extra characters referred to in the key i.e. the bistratose margin towards the leaf tip (NB the proximal 2/3 of the margin is unistratose), strongly papillose cells, quadrate adaxial cells (presenta long the full length of the costa).

As can be seen below, the habitat was very mundane, the species occurring as patches in the outermost zone of colonised dirt (arrowed white, although I think my specimen came from the area indicated by the yellow arrow SN53100107). Direct associates in my sample include Didymodon tophaceus, Barbula unguiculata and Bryum dichotomum. PS. Thanks for the earlier comments, which prompted further examination of my sample.

Maybe it's just because I've had a long day but this one has me stumped. It was growing in the gritty debris of a roadside near Dafen, Llanelli, the most frequent associates including Cochlearia danica, Barbula unguiculata, Plantago coronopus, etc. Help please!

Rhiwsaeson

Yesterday's lunchtime outing was pleasing because it turned out to be less mundane than I expected. My aim was to top up tetrad ST08R (east of Llantrisant) from the existing list of 20 species recorded by CCW in the 90s. I wasn't sure exactly where I'd end up but there was parking at Rhiwsaeson so I explored the area along the old railway line from ST070828 as far as the Nant Myddlyn at ST072828.

Epiphytes were plentiful on the young ash trees along the old railway and included 6 species of Orthotrichum (topped up to 8 species by O. diaphanum and O. anomalum on concrete fence posts). The highlight was found on hazel at the bottom of the railway embankment - a 10cm long patch of Pylaisia polyantha with the characteristic multiple generations of capsules present. I think this is the 5th Glamorgan tetrad, of which three are between Cardiff and Llantrisant.

The banks of the Nant Meddlyn were rather nice too, with abundant Homalia and a little Anomodon on stonework by the stream (photo below), Lejeunea lamacerina on alder and Neckera complanata and Sciuro-hypnum populeum on sycamore.

My list so far is 58 species though I have a few Ulota samples still to check. Most of the CCW species were different so the tetrad total should now exceed 70 - I think I'll call that 'job done' for this one (though it's tempting to have a look at the nearby hillfort sometime).

North and south - a county of contrasts

After last week's visit to the northernmost point of Monmouthshire (VC35) I have now recorded bryophytes at the southernmost point.  This is on the seawall near Lamby Pit (in modern day Cardiff), and supported 12 species on concrete and rock, with Tortula muralis, Grimmia pulvinata and Syntrichia intermedia being the southernmost mosses of all.

I didn't realise there's Coast Path parking almost next to this southernmost point, so I made an expedition of it - the 2.5 miles each way walk from Peterstone Wentloog past my birding haunts of old.  Moss diversity was pretty limited, and the only non-epiphytic liverwort was some Pellia endiviifolia on a ditch bank.  Useful notes were made on various habitats, with highlights on the seawall being an impressive abundance of Fissidens incurvus on the inland side of the seawall bank, Drepanocladus aduncus in seasonally flooded track areas, Microbryum davallianum on thin soil overlying rocks on the seaward side of the seawall, and some large colonies of Orthotrichum anomalum on the seawall rocks.

Although the saltmarsh is extensive here on Rumney Great Wharf, it is perhaps too low-lying and not quite open enough for bryophytes.  I eventually found a couple of tiny shoots of Hennediella heimii on a raised area >50m out from the seawall, whilst the other Gwent halophyte Tortula pallida was abundant on an area of stony saltmarsh disturbed in the past by pipeline excavation.

It was not a vintage day's bryology, but it was good to go somewhere I have never been before, and 4 tetrads have been ticked off on the 'to do' list (leaving 103 unvisited by me in VC35).

Baglan slag

Aloina ambigua was found to be occasional in an area of lichen-bryophyte dominated vegetation on basic slag at Baglan. The main associates were Didymodon fallax, Barbula convoluta var. convoluta, Dicranella varia & Bryum dichotomum. Among the less frequent species were Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens, Cladonia pocillum, Galium parisiense, plus an unfamiliar lichen, which I'd be grateful if anyone can suggest a name, or even genus?