Surprise in a jar

There were some quite large and attractive clumps of Leucobryum juniperoideum, which were deliberately included as part of the planting scheme in a glass jar planter, along with plants of Tillandsia, at Wyevale today. There was no evidence on the label to indicate where this material came from, nor that it was harvested from a sustainable source. It's impossible to know whether this is just a one off chance inclusion, or whether Leucobryum has been deliberately targeted by moss-gatherers, but the occurrence is a little worrying. Other similar jars seemed to be mostly filled with Hypnum, so maybe this was just a one-off, but do keep an eye open if you happen to visit any Wyevale outlets.

Another item of bryological interest was a rather pricey Olive tree, which was reported to be 400 years old. Near the base of the trunk was some fruiting Barbula unguiculata and what looks like a non-fruiting Orthotrichum, though the growth form seems odd for this genus, so maybe it's a member of the Poticeae? Any suggestions welcome?

Chasing ghosts

I headed to Hensol Forest yesterday afternoon with thoughts of Ghostwort in my mind. There is a lot of Sphagnum in the wet woodland just to the north of Pysgodlyn Mawr, which seemed a good place to search for it. As it turned out, however, there wasn't a lot of birch in the woodland and it didn't take me long to roll back (and replace) the carpets of Sphagnum from around the base of the few birch trees - unsurprisingly, no Cryptothallus was forthcoming (all I found was a small toad).

This left some time for general recording so I had a poke around the rotten logs nearby, with one particularly splendid example being almost covered in Riccardia palmata and a few smaller patches of Nowellia curvifolia.

On the other side of the lake, a large willow had a tuft of Ulota which looked promising for calvescens - and so it proved when checked under the microscope (the rows of elongated cells inside the leaf margins were very clear).

These and a few other additions took the total for tetrad ST07N from 75 to 85 (the majority of the previous records coming from a visit Sam made to Pysgodlyn Mawr exactly five years earlier).

I headed a bit further south into ST07M, which had a list of only 6 bryophyte species. Following a small stream through the mixed woodland bumped this total up to 52, including Orthodontium lineare, a bit more Nowellia and, more excitingly, two patches of Loeskeobryum brevirostre.

Among these records L. brevirostre, U. calvescens and R. palmata are all new for the Vale - which highlights just how under-recorded this part of the county is.

Hennediella stanfordensis moving west

Hennediella stanfordensis near Pont Nedd Fechan

On Tuesday afternoon we noted a significant patch of Hennediella stanfordensis under the Pont Nedd Fechan A465 flyover (SN903807476), near to where the Mellte makes a confluence with the Nedd Fechan (and becomes the River Neath). This is new to me and may be new for VC41.
The rather neat rosettes of bluntly-rounded leaves remind me of Syntrichia latifolia, but the teeth on the upper part of the leaf, which can be (just) made out with a hand lens, are very clear under the microscope. The leaf also has a distinct point at the apex.

Teeth on upper margin of Hennediella stanfordensis leaf

Other useful leaf microscopic characters are the border of elongated cells and the clearly papillose cells.

Elongated marginal cells and papillose cells of Hennediella stanfordensis leaf

First recored in Britain in 1958, most bryologists regard H. stanfordensis as an alien although Smith made an argument for it being native. It certainly shows a distribution pattern that is typical of founder populations. This Neath Valley record certainly looks a bit disjunct from the concentration of records on the English-Welsh borders but I suspect that there is more of it in suitable areas elsewhere in Glamorgan. 

Hirwaun Common crags

During an unplanned morning outing last Sunday, I ended up on the north-facing sandstone crags at the northern edge of Hirwaun Common, primarily in an attempt to add to the paltry total of 13 taxa for SN90H. As it happened I was slow getting out of Cwar Canwyllyr [Chandelier Quarry] within SN90G, which already had a respectable total of 111, although I was able to add an additional 20 spp. including some nice patches of Bartramia pomiformis, one of my favourite mosses.

Eventually, I did manage just short of an hour in the target square and managed to take the totals up to a not very impressive 65. The only highlights of any note on these dry acid slopes, with very few outcrops in the section I walked, were a few small that supported healthy patches of bryophyte vegetation. These included a few species of local interest such as Cynodontium bruntonii, Barbilophozia floerkei and Ptilidium ciliare.

isolated small crag supporting the species shown below

Ptilidium ciliare

Barbilophozia floerkei

Cynodontium bruntonii

rather mudane, rank Molinia-Eriophorum vaginatum on top of the hill

attractive, but very species-poor dry heath with co-doinant
Vaccinium myrtillus -Pleurozium schreberi slopes

view to west, looking across to the more interesting Craig y Llyn

The Gloucestershire Bryophyte group at Llangattock

The Glos bryology group arranged an out-of-county day at the eastern end of Llangattock this year, to give us a bit of a change from the usual neutral / calcareous woodlands and grasslands of our own county. 7 of us turned up at the quarry car park on a chilly Sunday morning in March, to explore the conical spoil heaps, fallen boulders and quarry walls of the area. We didn’t get very far (as usual!), but still managed to record 97 species for the square SO2015.

Highlights of the day were Racomitrium canescens on the grassland at SO20241554, and Bryum elegans on a fallen boulder at the base of the quarry (SO20491535). Both are new species for VC 42.

Racomitrium canescens

Bryum elegans in situ

Bryum elegans: Note reflexed hair-points and border of long narrow cells

We spotted some lovely patches of Sanionia uncinata sheltered within the walls of an old building and scattered throughout the grass on the spoil heaps above.

The Climacium dendroides was looking particularly photogenic and I just couldn’t resist...

We saw Philonotis calcarea, new to many of us, and Sharon Pilkington unintentionally collected Philonotis arnelli in amongst another specimen. Sharon also spotted Distichium inclinatum on the outside wall of the derelict building – there were old capsules which were clearly inclined, and new ones coming which I will go back and photograph if I get a chance.

Further to the west, David Hawkins found Calliergon cordifolium in shallow pools on the quarry bottom, but sadly the inevitable rain arrived about then, so we have no photos.

Finally, not to forget the liverworts, some beautiful Ptilidium ciliare on rocks amongst the grassland to the west of the spoil heaps:

And Tritomaria quinquedentata on the spoil heaps amongst the grass and other bryophytes:

All in all, we had a fantastic day and are planning a return trip soon for those who couldn’t make the first visit.

Anthoceros punctatus in Ystradgynlais

Found in disturbed pasture today and wonder if this might be new for vc42? Voucher retained if necessary. Horns still 'in bud', but plenty ripe antheridia on view...

leaf section showing aereolate thaluls

 antheridia (small tick marks = 2.5 microns)

Sychryd scramble

On the 20th a climb up through the complex of boulders and falls along the Glamorgan side of the Sychryd boosted the totals for SN90D from 90 to 159 and SN90E from 41 to 106. Highlights from the limestone section included scattered colonies of Cololejeunea calcarea (photo 1 below), Neckera crispa (just one small tuft noted), Oxyrrhynchium schleicheri (one small colony), Rhynchostegiella teneriffae (sheets of it above water line, photo 2), Seligeria acutifolia (small amounts at 2 locations, photo 3), S. donniana (only 1 fruiting patch seen,, photo 4), Taxiphyllum wissgrillii (1 patch noted on a small embedded rock) & a little Dermatocarpon miniatum (photo 5).

A couple of logs in the higher acid section of the gorge supported species including Barbilophozia attenuata, Blepharostoma trichophyllum, Cephalozia catenulata (photo 1 below), Dicranodontium denudatum & Riccardia palmata, plus there were a couple of nice patches of Hymenophyllum tunbridgense half way up the valley side.

Of note for the wrong reason was a single 10cm x 10cm patch of Lophocolea semiteres established on the track as you walk down the north side of Dinas Rock.

Earlier in the day on the way up the Neath Valley, three lay-by stops along the A465 all showed that the putative Didymodon australasiae is a well established component of the verge dirt zone along this road. A little Ephemerum minutissimum was also collected and checked under microscope at one of the stops.

Upper Melincwrt Valley

Upper Melincwrt Valley

The Lower Melincwrt Valley, near Resolven, is a well known and well visited site. It is very accessible, has an impressive, much photographed waterfall and a fairly large population of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense - on a vertical, north-facing sandstone outcrop near the river now difficult to reach and most easily viewed from the path with binoculars. However, the upper part of the valley, above the waterfall, is less well known and much of it is not very accessible, particularly when there is a lot of water running in the brook. H and I have tackled some of the easy parts but much remains unexplored as far as I am aware, particularly where it forms a deep gorge. It is so reminiscent of the Nedd Fechan, Pyrddin and Mellte Valleys, that it makes you think there must be good stuff lurking in there somewhere. Previous visits to the top of the valley, where there is another (small) waterfall, revealed a nice population of Trichocolea tomentella and riverside slabs covered in Nardia compressa.
Yesterday afternoon we tackled the accessible area shown above (vicinity of SN830015) where the rotten logs draped across the stream are plastered with Nowellia curvifolia and Scapania gracilis and some also have large amounts of Odontoschisma denudatum. The occurrence of Blepharostoma trichophyllum, frequent and overlooked though it may be, is also rather nice.

Log with Scapania gracilis and Blepharostoma trichophyllum, Upper Melincwrt Valley

Log covered in Odontoschisma denudata Upper Melincwrt Valley

Odontoschisma denudatum, Upper Melincwrt Valley

Scapania gracilis interwoven with Blepharostoma trichophyllum, Upper Melincwrt Valley

Blepharostoma trichophyllum, Upper Melincwrt Valley