Monday 5 November 2018

Brown moss confusion

An hour and half looking at Sphagnum on Cefn Bryn yesterday afternoon turned up no surprises on the bog-moss front, with squarrosum being the most interesting of the nine species noted (new for SS49) records indicating that this is a localised species on the Gower peninsula. Best of the incidentals were a few small patches of Lophozia incisa on streamside peat, plus a small basic flush with frequent Philonotis calcarea which held a confusing mix of brown mosses that I am still trying to fathom. There is definitely Sarmentypnum exannulatum and Scorpidium cossonii, but there is also either Palustriella falcata or Hamatocaulis vernicosus, or as I suspect both!  I’ll have a closer look again at my specimens when I get a chance, but here are a photos of a few shoots I looked at last night. The sward was heavily poached and there were no decent stands of anything, making an intriguing puzzle of poorly grown plants.

Here are some images of shoots what looked like, and keyed out, as vernicosus. Nice broad shoots, though the leaf bases were't especially red on any of the material I collected (just a small sample). None of the leaves had differentiated alar cells and most were obviously pleated when wet, though not as strongly as in falcata. Costa weak beyond mid-point, ending at around 2/3.

These last two images were from another sample at the same location, the leaves being more strongly pleated and with differentiated alar cells. Though I could not detect and small leafy outgrowths on the stem during a quick search, I'm suspecting this might be falcata - one for later...

Thoughts on any of the above welcome.

The non-bryological highlight was a lovely clump of Clavulinopsis fusiformis [thanks for the ID Sam] in U3 Agrostis curtisii grassland on the ridge of Cefn Bryn.

6 comments:

  1. That's C fusiformis with the clustered base; no idea yet about the Dreps though!

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  2. Thanks for the fungus id Sam. I'll let you know my thoughts on the Dreps when I've had a second look...

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  3. Pretty sure now that the main group of images do indeed show vernicosus. Stem sections of falcata and cossonii both very different in addition to other features mentioned. Voucher retained if anyone wants to give a second opinion.

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  4. They do indeed look like vernicosus; Palustriella would have paraphyllia so should be easily dismissed if you strip the leaves off the lower parts of the shoot. Well done!

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  5. Thanks, now I know it's there and its habitat it will be interesting to see if I can find any more. There is a line of potential sites up there...

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  6. ...voucher confirmed as vernicosus by Tom Blockeel

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