Monday 4 July 2016

Encalypta vs Tortula


I see your excurrent green Tortula nerve, George, and raise one of my own.  This is from an Encalypta 'vulgaris' on the limestone of Creigiau Eglwyseg in Denbighshire from a couple of weeks ago.  However, the Floras say that E. vulgaris has the nerve ending in the leaf tip and Tom Blockeel recently published the occurrence of the excurrent-nerved E. pilifera in Britain (including a collection of mine from the NE Wales limestone).  The costa of E. pilifera is usually much longer than this, but the lingulate leaf shape also points to that species.  I am puzzled!

1 comment:

  1. I checked several patches of Encalypta vulgaris last week and none had excurrent nerves; maybe this really is E pilifera.

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