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.
Very nice George. H. luridum seems to like damp concrete as I've seen it I pretty much identical situations.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should say that, H and I had a mass of it on a concrete slab at the side of the River Twrch a few days ago, and with abundant fruit. It's probably a good time to look out for it because ochraceum is dioicous and rarely fruits. The (one day!) completed distribution maps for these sister species will be fascinating - and also for other riparian genera like Hygroamblystegium and Schistidium.
ReplyDeleteThanks both, a species to seek out on concrete close to watercourses then.
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