Mellte Valley Photo-trip

 I didn't have a good photograph of Solenostoma sphaerocarpum, so yesterday afternoon H and I went to see the nice little colony that Barry found in the Mellte Valley a few days ago.

 Solenostoma sphaerocarpa, Mellte Valley

 The winged perianth with a short beak, and the circular leaves, are distinctive.

Further up the valley we caught up with the Dicranum montanum that I remember from the Mellte trip led by Sam a few years ago. I didn't get a chance to photograph it then, so it was nice to get it again on a few trees near the trail.

Dicranum montanum, Mellte Valley

Some of you will also remember the remarkable riverside site nearby with both Tunbridge and Wilson's Filmy-fern growing within feet of each other.

Hymenophyllum tunbrigense, Mellte Valley

Hymenophyllum wilsonii, Mellte Valley

Have camera, will travel

A couple of bryo-twitches in the last few days enabled me to tick and learn three of my target species for 2018; Campylopus subulatus and Sphenolobopsis pearsonii on Friday and Seligeria campylopoda today. The Sphenolobopsis site on the Hepste below Sgwd-yr-Eira was really quite spectacular, especially after the recent rains. The population seemed quite healthy based on Graham and Sam's site report and I couldn't help wondering if some of the dark patches on some of the inaccessible cliffs might also support this species.

As per Sam's comment in the previous post  by Charles, the Campylopus subulatus site at Pontneddfechan is very different to the forest track sites. In addition to the Campylopus, there was a surprisingly rich assemblage of associates growing in the gritty deposits of the huge rock mass in the river (which presumably floods or is sprayed in full spate). These included Anomobryum julaceum (photo below), Blepharostoma trichophyllum and Lophozia excisa, though the latter looked a bit different to material I've seen previously, so I've attached a photo for comment in case I've made a mistake. Some male bracts with developing antheridia were evident, so I presume these are just sexually ripening shoots.

Today's pit-stop in the Wye for Seligeria campylopoda, at the site suggested by Sam last year, was frustrated by the fact that I'd remembered my camera, but I'd forgotten my hand-lens! Thankfully the unripe curved setae were easily visible and every one of the half dozen rocks I looked at held the moss in variable abundance. The record shot I took of the site shows there is now a lot more brash at this location, though not at a level likely to affect the Seligeria.

Another new species for me (if verified), growing on the same shaley dripping cliff on the Mellte where Bartramia ithyphylla is known, was what I'm pretty sure is Solenostoma sphaerocarpum (voucher retained). Paroicous with spherical perianths (one visible in image below) and bright green rounded leaves are some of the characters which point to this species. Features under the microscopic all conformed nicely too.

Jungermannia re-examined

I've now rechecked the Jungermannia from Merthyr Common which I posted a query about in an earlier blog (see here). I'm extremely glad that Sam flagged up that my specimen might be J. sphaerocarpa or J. obovata rather than J. pumila. As it turns out I made a complete howler and both specimens, fruiting and non-fruting, appear to be J. sphaerocarpa. Somehow I'd missed the fact that the perianths on the fruiting specimen were strongly winged. The non-fruiting specimen is identical vegetatively to the fruiting specimen (both have round leaves with a narrow insertion, colourless rhizoids and are non aromatic).

Jungermannia sphaerocarpa - winged perianths

The fruiting specimen was from a shale cliff just above the stream (SO076098), with associates including Gymnostomum aeruginosum, Hyocomium armoricum, Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Amphidium mougeotii and Aneura pinguis, i.e. indicating some base enrichment.

J. sphaerocarpa habitat - wet shale bank above stream

The non fruiting specimen was from a wet rockface high above the stream (SO077098) with associates including Preissia quadrata, Palustriella commutata and A. mougeotii, again indicating base enrichment.

As far as I know there is just one confirmed previous VC41 record, made by Sam at Resolven in 2002. Barry's database also lists two records made by Albert Trow in 1898 (these are not listed in Flora of Glamorgan - not sure if they're reliable?).

Jungermannia?

I put the '?' in the title to cover myself in case it's not a Jungermannia.

This is another one from Merthyr Common last week. It was growing as a dense patch on a wet, shady  rock face (sandstone/shale, fairly base rich).

I thought this might be J. pumila. This size is about right (stems 1.5-2mm across) and it is not aromatic (verified by Liz who has a better sense of smell than me). However, I can't find any fertile material, so perhaps it is not possible to confirm it is this species and not J. atrovirens, or something else entirely.

Comments welcome, thanks.