I spent an hour and a half on Cefn Bryn in the rain on Saturday and recorded 53 species in an area of flushed ground to the north of Arthur's Stone.
Kurzia pauciflora was more frequent here than I've seen elsewhere on Gower, typically growing through mounds of
Sphagnum papillosum. Amongst eight
Sphagnum, tenellum was the only species of any note.
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| Kurzia pauciflora |
I only came across one base-enriched flush, where there were small quantities of
Palustriella falcata and
Sarmentypnum exannulatum mixed in the short turf, which held frequent
Campylium stellatum and
Scorpidium cossonii.
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| Scorpidium cossonii |
Grimmia trichophylla &
Racomitrium heterostichum were present on several of the rocks in the area, surprisingly this being the first time the latter has been recorded on the Gower peninsula.
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| Racomitrium heterostichum |
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| Racomitrium heterostichum |
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| Racomitrium heterostichum mid-leaf section |
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| Grimmia trichophylla |
Lovely photo of the Kurzia. Some of those Gower tetrads must have very respectable totals by now.
ReplyDeleteOut of interest, was that R. heterostichum s.s? R. affine might be more expected in that habitat.
ReplyDeleteGood shout and just checked (see extra photo), but with 8 cells across adaxial surface of the costa and cross section showing ~2 layers of cells, this seems to fit heterostichum using Smith. Any more comments welcome, sorry section pic is a bit soft.
ReplyDeleteNo quibbles there; the costa you demonstrate is very typical being wide as well as canaliculate. I find I can see the thicker and narrower nerve of R. affine in the field now but I still need to check at least once in every tetrad. Still, it's a relatively easy leaf to section and mine aren't always as complete as you've obtained.
ReplyDelete