Bits and pieces

On Friday I spent a couple of hours tying up some loose ends. First port of call was the Ty-du arable field (ST103800), where Sam and Julian found immature Phaeoceros thalli in late September. These had matured in the intervening weeks; strangely, all those I found (and there were lots of them) were male, indicating they were the dioecious species P. laevis (photo below left). As in September, Anthoceros thalli were also in evidence (photo below right) and I managed to find some male organs to confirm them as A. agrestis (though I think Sam had already done this).

I was surprised by the abundance of Fossombronia, a genus I've not seen in other arable fields locally.  The sporophytes were immature but after a few days ripening at home I was able to extract spores enabling identification as F. pusilla.

Next stop was the roadside limestone outcrops in Pentyrch, with my hopes high after Barry's recent find of Weissia sterilis in Julian's nearby garden. Although 16 calcicoles were recorded there was no Weissia among them. The best record was probably Brachythecium glareosum.

Finally, 45 minutes were spent in Efail Isaf making a start on ST08X. Among the 36 species recorded were Pleuridium subulatum and Fossombronia pusilla on soil in the village allotments.

An enjoyable two hours despite the hail showers!

Rhymney Riverbank revisited

On Friday I returned to the arable field by the Rhymney (ST2282) to collect hornwort samples for Cambridge University Botanic Garden. After bagging up some nice rosettes of both Anthoceros and Phaeoceros, I continued along the riverbank path to an area of woodland (just north of the M4). This resulted in an additional 16 species for the VC41 part of this tetrad (taking the total to 74 taxa), with minor highlights being a 20x10cm patch of Neckera pumila on a riverbank alder and a small patch of Pseudephemerum nitidum on the root plate of a fallen tree (a drier situation than I imagined for this species, see photo).

Back home, I was relieved to finally locate some male organs on the Anthoceros thalli, the dimensions of which confirmed these as A. agrestis.