Surprising urban wall moss

My most surprising bryo find of the winter so far has been Ptychomitrium polyphyllum growing just a stone's throw from the Butterfly Conservation Wales office in Hafod, Swansea. I first noticed a cushion of this moss growing on the sandstone coping of a sloping wall back in November, but only remembered today to take my camera along to get a few photos. I must have walked past it countless times last year before I noticed it. The moss is in the foreground of the photos below. It is close to a busy road junction and must experience pretty high levels of nitrogen pollution.

I noticed today that as well as the large fruiting cushion there is a small non-fruiting cushion nearby (on the right-hand side in the photo below left).

The associates are all mundane species: mostly Grimmia pulvinata with some Bryum capillare and a tiny amount of Tortula muralis. The rest of the wall is almost devoid of moss apart from a few scraps of G. pulvinata here and there.

I've not seen this moss in an urban situation before, but perhaps it isn't so unusual. Sam's Pembrokeshire flora mentions its persistence on imported rocks at County Hall in Haverfordwest, shwoing it can survive some pollution.

Nicholaston

Bryological distractions during our Adder search at Nicholaston on Good Friday included Bryum algovicum (new for SS58), Ptychomitrim polyphyllum (first Gower Peninsula record), Racomitrum aciculare (seemingly uncommon in the lowlands) and Orthodontium lineare (a species I seem to be seeing a little more frequently this year).

rocks along lane at Nicholaston Grange with P. polyphyllum plants arrowed

Ptychomitrium polyphyllum 

Bryum algovicum in dunes below Crawley Bluff

B. algovicum exostome teeth with oblique articulations

Orthodontium lineare

Greater Pincushion

Widespread in upland areas of NPT where it occurs on exposed siliceous rock often with Racomitrium spp., e.g. R. fasciculare. My photos are also a bit ancient, but for what they're worth........

Ptychomitrium polyphyllum Glyncorrwg

Ptychomitrium polyphyllum, Abergwynfi

The short, pleated calyptras are a really neat feature. It is probably widespread above the enclosure line throughout the South Wales Coalfield, i.e. it should be as frequent in RCT as it is in NPT, but it may be absent or rare outside the Coalfield.  

Greater Pincushion in Glamorgan

I noticed some fine cushions of Ptychomitrium polyphyllum on a large boulder near where I parked the car at Rhos Common yesterday. Charles and Hilary have already recorded this species in the same monad, SN7907. It struck me that I've not seen this species on my (admittedly limited) upland surveys in NE Glamorgan, and the distribution map in my copy of MapMate seems to bear this out, with no dots in eastern RCT, Merthyr and Caerphilly, though there are plenty in upland NPT and Swansea.

Barry - any chance of a complete distribtion map for VC41 (I don't seem to have all the records in my system yet)? A photo would be nice too if you have one. It would also be interesting to see a VC35 map if you get chance Sam. Thanks.

My only photo of Ptychomitrium is a poor one of a tuft growing epiphytically on Poplar bark near the Ebbw Vale steelworks, about 15 years ago.