Hennediella stanfordensis moving west

Hennediella stanfordensis near Pont Nedd Fechan

On Tuesday afternoon we noted a significant patch of Hennediella stanfordensis under the Pont Nedd Fechan A465 flyover (SN903807476), near to where the Mellte makes a confluence with the Nedd Fechan (and becomes the River Neath). This is new to me and may be new for VC41.
The rather neat rosettes of bluntly-rounded leaves remind me of Syntrichia latifolia, but the teeth on the upper part of the leaf, which can be (just) made out with a hand lens, are very clear under the microscope. The leaf also has a distinct point at the apex.

Teeth on upper margin of Hennediella stanfordensis leaf

Other useful leaf microscopic characters are the border of elongated cells and the clearly papillose cells.

Elongated marginal cells and papillose cells of Hennediella stanfordensis leaf

First recored in Britain in 1958, most bryologists regard H. stanfordensis as an alien although Smith made an argument for it being native. It certainly shows a distribution pattern that is typical of founder populations. This Neath Valley record certainly looks a bit disjunct from the concentration of records on the English-Welsh borders but I suspect that there is more of it in suitable areas elsewhere in Glamorgan. 

North and south - a county of contrasts

After last week's visit to the northernmost point of Monmouthshire (VC35) I have now recorded bryophytes at the southernmost point.  This is on the seawall near Lamby Pit (in modern day Cardiff), and supported 12 species on concrete and rock, with Tortula muralis, Grimmia pulvinata and Syntrichia intermedia being the southernmost mosses of all.

I didn't realise there's Coast Path parking almost next to this southernmost point, so I made an expedition of it - the 2.5 miles each way walk from Peterstone Wentloog past my birding haunts of old.  Moss diversity was pretty limited, and the only non-epiphytic liverwort was some Pellia endiviifolia on a ditch bank.  Useful notes were made on various habitats, with highlights on the seawall being an impressive abundance of Fissidens incurvus on the inland side of the seawall bank, Drepanocladus aduncus in seasonally flooded track areas, Microbryum davallianum on thin soil overlying rocks on the seaward side of the seawall, and some large colonies of Orthotrichum anomalum on the seawall rocks.

Although the saltmarsh is extensive here on Rumney Great Wharf, it is perhaps too low-lying and not quite open enough for bryophytes.  I eventually found a couple of tiny shoots of Hennediella heimii on a raised area >50m out from the seawall, whilst the other Gwent halophyte Tortula pallida was abundant on an area of stony saltmarsh disturbed in the past by pipeline excavation.

It was not a vintage day's bryology, but it was good to go somewhere I have never been before, and 4 tetrads have been ticked off on the 'to do' list (leaving 103 unvisited by me in VC35).

A few bits and bobs from the Usk

I had a quick walk along the Usk at Abergavenny at lunchtime on Friday and it occurred to me that I hadn’t seen Hennediella stanfordensis for some time.  Water levels were low enough to be able drop down onto rivers edge and peer at the eroding banks.   Bank erosion due to recent winter floods meant that there were relatively few areas with any bryophyte cover and it took me some time to find a few small patches of Hennediella although were some nice colonies of Bryum gemmiferum here and there.    

Not sure I have ever looked at Hennediella under the microscope – the few teeth near the leaf tips are very distinctive.

Male and female Lunularia seem frequent along this part of the Usk – in the past I have kept an eye on mixed patches, but haven’t yet seen any sporophytes.

 

Further upstream past the hospital is a stoney bank where Bryum donianum grows – I am not sure I have ever looked at donianum under the microscope either, so I pulled a couple of leaves off – in the field the thick margin joining the nerve is obvious, but the tiny teeth probably less so.    

Bonus species included a common sandpiper, presumably the same bird I had seen further upstream earlier in the week, a kingfisher and there were also a few snowdrops flowering on a nearby roadside.

Moss puzzle

I did some work in Swansea Docks yesterday and finally managed to add 22 species to the previously unrecorded SS69Q. There was nothing of special note, though a single capsule of what superficially looked like Microbryum rectum seemed a little odd. The habitat comprised a mossy turf growing on a marine silt/grit crust over concrete, regularly inundated by wave spray during storms. The most prominent species were Limonium binervosum agg., Hennediella heimii, Didymodon tophaceus and Tortella flavovirens. Under the microscope the seta seemed thick and too long for M. rectum, plus the leaves looked more like those of H. heimii, with smooth cells, costa ending below the leaf tip and with a few marginal teeth near below the tip. I gently squashed the capsule under the slide cover to reveal some unripe spores. Given the habitat and the leaf characters I'm suspecting this is just a deformed capsule of H. heimii, but thought I'd post it, just in case someone else knows better.

Also of interest, the crusts of D. tophaceus were punctuated by frequent fruiting bodies of one of the bryoparasitic Pezizales, probably a Lamprospora species, though the Octospora website does not list D. tophaceus as a known host.

Wye oh Wye?

Before the head-high Nettles and Balsam make visits to the riverbank impossible, I had a check of the silty Salix by the River Wye at Wyesham.  The results were surprisingly mundane and I couldn't find any sign of the Myrinia that I was hoping for, although Orthotrichum sprucei was abundant alongside Leskea and a bit of Dialytrichia.  I'll try to return because I only searched the upper trunks/branches of the willows briefly.

Just as I was about to give up, I noticed a very opaque-looking moss on the ground - Hennediella stanfordensis to compliment the darker green, more translucent H. macrophylla photographed in Chichester the other week.  A microscope confirmed sharp teeth near the leaf apex.

Hennediella to look for

When visiting urban parks in south Wales it's worth keeping an eye out for yellow-green patches of Hennediella on trampled ground.  I have only found Hennediella stanfordensis so far in Wales: a couple of times on footpaths near Caldicot and quite frequently on the Wye, Usk and their tributaries.  However, in Chichester (where I am today) there's a lot of H. macrophylla in the parks.  It is similar to a large Barbula unguiculata but the leaf shape is more oval (rather than parallel-sided) and a lens reveals a few teeth near the leaf apex.  Hennediella look more opaque than, for example, Tortula truncata or T. acaulon.

Glamorgan's smallest tetrad? (and Tortula query)

Yes, I know all tetrads are the same size, but in terms of land area ST16C must be one of, if not the, smallest in the county. It contains the very tip of Friars Point at Barry Island -  probably no more than 300 square metres of dry land above the inter-tidal.

I was down on the beach at Barry Island with the family yesterday so decided to take a quick look, given the lack of any previous records. Irritatingly I'd forgotten my phone/GPS so wasn't sure exactly where this tetrad started, and so took a cautious approach and only looked for bryos right at the point. Looking at the map when I got home, there was a bit more land in ST16C than I realised - so I'll have to have another look next time I'm there.

The samples I grabbed comprised only two species, both from thin soil among the limestone rocks: Tortella flavovirens and a Tortula (I think) which has me puzzled. Photos below.

Initially I thought this was T. modica but the cells are at least moderately papillose, the margins aren't obviously recurved and the leaf tip is a bit toothed. The latter character made me think it might be Hennediella but I think the seta is too short (only about 4mm). It doesn't seem to fit any of the other Tortula species very well. Any suggestions?

Thanks
George