Holiday Bryophytes - lots of leskeas

Alpine habitat, La Tofane

We were in the Dolomites in July this year, our third visit to this fabulous mountain range in Northern Italy. Most of our attention was paid to the spectacular alpine flowering plants but we did note a few bryophytes.
 The subalpine forests have an extraordinary abundance of Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus and Hylocomium splendens (and lots of orchids, including Lady's Slipper) in stark contrast to our local, acidic Sitka forests with their abundant carpets of Rhytidiadelphus loreus. 

Rhytidiadephus triquetrus and Hylocomium splendens in spruce forest near Cortina

The geology is predominantly limestone and lots of typical calcicole bryophytes are represented plus some really nice mountain species that are rare in Britain. In the province of Belluno, between Cortina D'Ampezzo and the Falzarego Pass, some excellent trails took us above tree-line into alpine tundra where there were wallcreeper.  In the rocky tundra below La Tofane Ptychodium plicatum (Plaited Leskea) was growing with Saxifraga oppositifolia (Purple Saxifrage) on some sheltered limestone boulders. 

Ptychodium plicatum and Saxifraga oppositifolia, la Tofane

H and Mark on Wallcreeper twitch above Falzarego Pass

On a hike to the Rifugio Locatelli from the famous Tre Cime di Lavaredo we encountered small parties of snow finches flitting about rocks covered with Pseudoleskea incurvata.  Later, in the mountains above Selva in the Val Gardena we found some Pseudoleskea patens (Patent Leskea) which gave us a good opportunity to compare these very similar species. In the end we had to bring samples home to examine the shape of the mid-leaf cells to confirm their identities.

Pseudoleskea incurvata with Salix herbacea (Dwarf Willow) near Rifugio Lavaredo

Pseudoleskea patens, Selva

The short walk to Baita Monzoni in the Val San Nicolo near Pozza di Fassa follows a forest road through a moist, mossy subalpine forest. Bartramia halleriana (Haller's Apple-moss) and Campyllophyllum halleri (Haller's Feather-moss) were on the base rich rocks here - the latter is a Red DataBook moss in the UK. Nearby on a large limestone boulder at the side of the road we noted a large, striking mat of Pterigynandrum filiforme (Capillary Wing-moss). From Monzoni the trail climbs up, eventually, to the Pas de la Sele and allows access to an outstanding alpine flora which includes lots of saxifrages (e.g. the endemic Saxifraga depressa) and other nice things like Papaver rhaeticum (Alpine Poppy), Phyteuma sieberi (Sieber's Rampion), Primula glutinosa (Sticky Primrose) and Ranunculus glacialis (Glacier Crowfoot).

Bartramia halleriana near Baita Monzoni

Bartramia halleriana with capsules

Campylophyllum halleri near Baita Monzoni

Pterigynandrum filiforme on a boulder near Baita Monzoni

Pterigynandrum filiforme Baita Monzoni

On a trip to Sottogudo we walked along a narrow road through a spectacular gorge where  Orthothecium rufescens (Red Leskea) was hanging from dripping limestone outcrops. There were some nice clumps of Selaginella helvetica here too. 

Orthothecium rufescens, Sottogudo Gorge

Orthothecium rufescens, Sottogudo Gorge

Selaginella helvetica, Sottogudo Gorge

Although the landscape of the Dolomites is dominated by limestone there are some extensive cliffs and outcrops of more acidic igneous rock which support a different flora, e.g. on and around Forcia Neigra near Alba. Our attention was stolen by some nice cushions of Eritrichium nanum (King-or-the-Alps) but we also noticed some conspicuous dark cushions of Grimmia montana (Sun Grimmia).

Grimmia montana, Forcia Neigra

Swamp Cypress epiphytes in Gorseinon

Alfie's walk (in fact barely a shuffle these days) in the rain today was along a line of trees on Miller's Drive, which I think are Taxodium distichum (but could be Metasequoia glyptostroboides - I'll check one day). The trunks were exceptionally mossy for such a new and exposed location and included a few species you wouldn't normally expect to find on bark. I only checked a handful of trees, so I'll be back another day to see if I can add to this mildly intriguing list...
Bryum capillare
Ceratodon purpureus
Cololejeunea minutissima
Cryphaea heteromalla
Frullania dilatata
Hypnum andoi
Metzgeria furcata
Orthotrichum affine
Orthotrichum diaphanum
Orthotrichum pulchellum
Orthotrichum stramineum
Rhynchostegiella tenella
Syntrichia laevipila
Syntrichia cf. montana (bottom photo - unless laevipila can be this spiny? the rosettes looked different too, so throwing this one out for opinion really)
Syntrichia papillosa
Syntrichia ruralis var. ruralis (small and a bit odd looking, see middle pics below, so happy to be corrected)
Tortula muralis
Ulota phyllantha
Zygodon conoideus

Sunset bryologising

Yesterday evening, whilst photographing the sunset from the artificial promontory of Salthouse Point slipway (SS52349582), I came across a colony of what appears to be Syntrichia montana. var. calva. Scattered tufts were locally frequent amongst patchy, moss-rich vegetation growing on Limestone gravel and I estimated the colony extended over an area approximately 10m x 10m, though no other areas were looked at. From what I could make out in the gloom, S. ruralis var. ruraliformis was more abundant (or possibly just more conspicuous) in the community and there looked to be a little S. r. var. ruralis for good measure. Confusingly, there were also a few shoots of intermediate types, so I'm not quite sure exactly what is going on out there! I'll try and get out in better light at some point to try and sort out the Syntrichia taxa at this interesting little site.

There is one other record of Syntrichia montana. var. calva in Wales, a short account of which can be viewed HERE

Long Mynd bryos

After a weekend with friends in Church Stretton a couple of weeks ago I had the rare luxury of a spare half day on a sunny Sunday. What could better use of this precious time than to look for rare bryophytes on the Long Mynd?

I'd Googled 'Long Mynd bryophytes' just before leaving home and was delighted to discover Des Callaghan's excellent and informative 2015 article in Field Bryology (link here). There was far more to seek out than I had time for, but I couldn't resist a hunt for the Schedule 8 species Jamesoniella undulifolia, with the Nover's Hill site being just a short walk from where I was staying. After 20 minutes on hands and kness among Sphagnum at the margins of a hilltop pool I found a few scattered stems - sadly I don't have any photos as I only had my phone camera which doesn't really do macro shots (as you'll see below). But here's a shot of the unremarkable habitat in which it occurs.

A couple of miles away I found a few shoots of Bryum wiegelii growing on one of the many springheads on which it occurs on the Long Mynd. There's a contender for World's Worst Bryophyte Photo below - you'll have to take my word for it that the Bryum is the pale greeny-pink stuff.

 

On the return to Church Stretton I checked out the outcrops at Devil's Mouth, a well known site for Grimmia montana and illustrated in Des's article. It would have been impossible to miss the hundreds of Grimmia cushions, which were often associated with the lichen Lasallia pustulata.

 

I didn't even attempt to look for the rare Sphagna which Des found during his recent surveys - my chances of spotting them would have been slim to say the least.

Tricky Syntrichia

A clump of Syntrichia, which was sparsely fruiting, confused me until I pulled it apart and realised there were in fact three different Syntrichia taxa all growing together. The sample was collected from the very mossy roof of Pendine's Sunbeam Diner, whilst balancing on a fence to get access to the lower tiles; not forgetting to grab a few pics while I was there! S. ruralis var. ruraliformis was very obviously different and I assumed the rest, including the fruiting material, was going to be montana (which looked to be the dominant species). But, in fact the capsules belonged to shoots of ruralis var. ruralis, which is said to fruit infrequently. Under the microscope the leaves can't really be confused, but looking at the clump both macroscopically and with a hand lens the picture was puzzling, with a range of apparent intermediate shoots present. Single-species colonies are normally straight forward, but I've not encountered this three-way association previously - at least not knowingly!

Above: Fruiting shoots and leaves taken from fruiting shoots.

Below: Leaves taken from non-fruiting shoots of S. montana [NB. the field of view is the same size for all microscope shots]