Schistidium rivulare vs platyphyllum

I'm trying to get to grips with Schistidiums other than S. crassipilum (being practically the only one I saw in Gloucestershire of course). Collected this on a rock in a stream in SO0522 (Cwm Cwarelli) near me, thinking it might be S. rivulare. No hairpoints and the capsules look fairly short (especially the one old one I gathered). Exothecial cells look incrassate to me and the leaf characters look OK for S. rivulare. But... the perichaetial leaves don't really overtop the capsule, and I can't see any stomata on the couple of capsules (one old and one immature) I've checked. Can anyone help?

Crawley Bluff

view east over Nicholaston dunes from the mid-cliff path

It was nice to get out in the sunshine on Friday given the weather we've had recently and look for some reptiles - Adders, Viviparous and Wall Lizards were all tempted out by the brief spell of warm weather. A little casual mossing added three species to the well-worked SS58D, taking it on to 169. The only interesting species of the three was Schistidium elegantulum, with four tufts noted in two locations on rocks alongside the mid-cliff of the bluff. In a soil pocket alongside one of the clumps were a few patches of the distinctive Toninia sedifolia. I did keep an eye open for Rhodobryum, as there is a historical record for this section of cliff, but to no avail.

large tuft of S. elegantulum

 

3 scrappy tufts of S. elegantulum & T. sedifolia

cliff section with 3 scrappy tufts

Margam sidings

Also known as 'Kenfig marshalling yards', this area is now a stunning brown-field slack full of  goodies.

The 'railway fen' always seems to provide something new each time I visit and a small patch of Pseudocalliergon lycopodioides at SS7913483514 provided the highlight of yesterday's visit. Whilst Calliergonella cuspidata was largely dominant, there's also a lot of Drepanocladus polygamus and D. aduncus in the flooded areas along with a wide range of interesting vascular plants and charophytes; those noted yesterday included Chara virgata, Equisetum variegatum (a), Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. maritima (lf), Cladium mariscus (o-lf) Juncus acutus (lf), J. subnodulosus (la), and Scirpoides holoschoenus. Not too shabby for an area of abandoned industrial land!

L: P. lycopodioides, R: Location shown by plastic box

 L: Equisetum variegatum, R: Scirpoides holoschoenus

L: Chara virgata, R: Cladium mariscus

Leaves of P. lycopodioides, D. aduncus & D polygamus

The drier gravelly sidings also provided a little interest with some nice carpets of Amblystegium serpens var. salinum growing alongside species such as Rhynchostegium megapolitanum, Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum and rather oddly Neckera complanata on open flat ground. A 'golden road' of Schistidium crasspilum was a fine spectacle as the sun started to break through.

 L: Neckera complanata, R: Location shown by knife

 L: Schistidium crassipilum, R: Amblystegium serpens var. salinum

My route

Misty Maerdy

On Monday I spent an enjoyable foggy day on the colliery spoil at Maerdy with a few other recorders. Emma Williams organised the outing and I was happy to explore a new area, especially as  Peter Sturgess and Karen Wilkinson were there to help with the bryos.

Part of the site had been looked at by Roy Perry in 2005, whose 64 bryophyte records were pretty much the only ones for tetrad SS99U. Peter Sturgess also did a botanical survey of the site in the same year, and was amazed how much the site has changed in the intervening 11 years. Peter remembered areas of sparsely-vegetated, flushed spoil with plety of Encalypta streptocarpa - a species we failed to find this time round. The flushes are now dominated by vascular plants and bulky pleurocarps. Willow scrub had established itself in some areas and Peter was surprised to see Rhytidiadelphus loreus - conspicuous on Monday but not recorded back in 2005.

We identified a good range of bryophyte species in the field, and I took quite a lot of samples home (which amounted to four evenings-worth of microscope work)...eventually the list for the day crept up to 96 bryophyte taxa. Roy recorded around 20 species which we didn't, and Peter has made a few records independently, so the tetrad total is now around 120.

The highlight for me was a nice cushion of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens on the side of a concrete drain (photo below - thanks to Barry for the recent field pointers on this one). There was nothing else of special note, but species I don't see very often included Hygrohypnum luridum (on concrete), H. ochraceum (in the Rhondda-fach), Schistidum platyphyllum (photo - abundant on rocks in the river, also recorded on Roy Perry's 2005 visit), Colura calyptrifolia (on young willow), Scapania gracilis (acidic crags), S. nemorea, Archidium alternifolium (photo - a couple of straggly patches on spoil), Calliergonella lindbergii (spoil), Straminergon stramineum (flush), Ptychomitrium polyphyllum and Racomitrium fasciculare (in an old quarry). To cap the day off nicely, Rei (Barbara) Brown found a nice specimen of Usnea articulata on larch.

Afon Afan, Pontrhydyfen

Yesterday a revisit to a site I'd looked at back in 2011 gave me the opportunity to check a short section of riverbank, which was largely modified by concrete and limestone blocks beneath the old bridge abutments. A small patch of Bryoerythrophyllum ferruginascens was probably the highlight (photos above), growing alongside Weissia controversa var. densifolia, the latter visible in the second photo as a bright green strip running between the large metal pipe and the colony of B. ferruginascens.

Schistidium platyphyllum (two images below-left) was frequent on the concrete and rocks that get periodically inundated, associates including Hygroamblystegium tenax and Hygrohypnum luridum  (two images below-right).

Nant Cae-dudwg (Part 2)

A couple more goodies from yesterday's outing, checked microscopically tonight.

The first section of the Nant Cae-dudwg I walked along was heavily modified (see photo below), a legacy of past mining activity. The feeder stream indicated by the yellow arrow was chanelled within concrete walls, the tops of which had a nice assemblage of bryophytes.

This Schistidium elegantulum was growing among abundant S. crassipilum and looked markedly different from it, with much longer hair points. At least 6 stomata were present at the base of the capsule I sliced in half.

The blurry rear of the photo above is shown in the photo below - a shaggy mat of Hygrohypnum luridum with young sporophytes. Under the microscope, the brownish granular alar cells and incurved upper leaf margins characteristic of this species were evident.

Stanner shines in rainy Radnorshire

Grimmia decipiens under scrutiny

On Monday Sam led a BBS group around Stanner Rocks showing us a succession of rare Grimmia species and much more besides. Whilst the weather was not ideal for looking at the critical characters of this tricky genus, the liverworts were at their best and together with vascular plants, highlights came thick and fast and included Bartramia stricta, Frullania fragilifolia, Gagea bohemica, Grimmia decipiens, G. laevigata, G. lisae, G. longirostris (poss?), G. ovalis, Riccia beyrichiana, R. nigrella, R. subbifurca, Schistidium pruinosum, Sedum forsterianum, Silene viscaria, Targionia hypophylla, Teesdalia nudicaulis & Veronica spicata. Phew!

Above:

G. decipiens - G. lisae

G. longirostris - G. ovalis

Schistidium pruinosum

Below:

Bartramia stricta - Frullania fragilifolia

R. nigrella - Silene viscaria

Sedum forsterianum

a rather nice little community with Bartramia stricta, Sedum forsterianum, Silene viscaria, Targionia hypophylla, & Veronica spicata.

rain-soaked Rory taking an end of session record shot of rain-soaked Stanner