I thought it was worth bringing this to the top again, as there's been an update bringing us a little closer to the identity of this moss, as discussed in the comments ...
After a bit of searching, I can't help feeling the material I've seen recently on base-rich coal spoil at
Grovesend and concrete bases at
Mynydd Lliw must be the poorly described
D. validus referred to in the
D. acutus entry in the new atlas. The taxon is reasonably well illustrated on the
Swiss Bryophyte website as
D. rigidulus var.
validus. The photographs here should provide a reference against which any similar material encountered can be compared, so we can at least record it consistently until the taxonomy is resolved. The ultra-pointy leaf tip and broad base seems pretty diagnostic, especially when coupled with the darkish brown appearance. Sam, I'll send you some material for your opinion / reference. Did you say Des was doing some work on this group? If so would he be interested in a sample?
ReplyDeleteCorrespondence with Tom Blockeel, who passed my specimen on to Jan Kucera for opinion, suggests material of this type (typically found in ruderal haitats) should be called D. icmadophilus for now. However, the status of this taxon is far from resolved and there is ongoing work on acuta, validus and icmadophilus, so it will be wise to hang on to any vouchers.
Thanks for the update Barry...if I find anything similar I'll keep hold of it.
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