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| Orthotrichum sprucei |
A quick afternoon visit to the banks of the Glamorgan side of the Loughor in SN50Y was made to give the square total a boost. The first tree I inspected, a Rusty Willow, had plenty of the expected epiphytes, one I was hoping for -
Orthotrichum rivulare, plus another that I wasn't expecting -
O. sprucei, which was fruiting and replete with gemmae, so in pretty full-on reproduction mode. This was a new species for me, which I suspect will prove to be more widespread along this river.
Excellent. I wonder if it is on any of the rivers between the Ely and the Loughor? I'd have thought the lower reaches of the Ewenny and Ogmore rivers would be good bets for finding sprucei.
ReplyDeleteNice to see a photo showing sprucei leaves with gemmae. We definitely need to look for it in NPT.
ReplyDeleteI guess wherever a river is slow and silty, there's chance, but you need to get down to the lower limbs and branches and look for the small (<1cm) tufts for sprucei and large (~3cm) ones for rivulare.
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