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.

Have camera, will travel

A couple of bryo-twitches in the last few days enabled me to tick and learn three of my target species for 2018; Campylopus subulatus and Sphenolobopsis pearsonii on Friday and Seligeria campylopoda today. The Sphenolobopsis site on the Hepste below Sgwd-yr-Eira was really quite spectacular, especially after the recent rains. The population seemed quite healthy based on Graham and Sam's site report and I couldn't help wondering if some of the dark patches on some of the inaccessible cliffs might also support this species.

As per Sam's comment in the previous post  by Charles, the Campylopus subulatus site at Pontneddfechan is very different to the forest track sites. In addition to the Campylopus, there was a surprisingly rich assemblage of associates growing in the gritty deposits of the huge rock mass in the river (which presumably floods or is sprayed in full spate). These included Anomobryum julaceum (photo below), Blepharostoma trichophyllum and Lophozia excisa, though the latter looked a bit different to material I've seen previously, so I've attached a photo for comment in case I've made a mistake. Some male bracts with developing antheridia were evident, so I presume these are just sexually ripening shoots.

Today's pit-stop in the Wye for Seligeria campylopoda, at the site suggested by Sam last year, was frustrated by the fact that I'd remembered my camera, but I'd forgotten my hand-lens! Thankfully the unripe curved setae were easily visible and every one of the half dozen rocks I looked at held the moss in variable abundance. The record shot I took of the site shows there is now a lot more brash at this location, though not at a level likely to affect the Seligeria.

Another new species for me (if verified), growing on the same shaley dripping cliff on the Mellte where Bartramia ithyphylla is known, was what I'm pretty sure is Solenostoma sphaerocarpum (voucher retained). Paroicous with spherical perianths (one visible in image below) and bright green rounded leaves are some of the characters which point to this species. Features under the microscopic all conformed nicely too.

Pal y Cwrt pit stop

Last Saturday we went for a drive over Mynydd Du and during a pit stop at Pal y Cwrt in the hope of a migrant Ring Ouzel (none, but lots of Wheatears in song) I noticed a lovely patch of Antennaria dioica, which was lf in a 6m x 4m area at SN67681813. I made a very quick list of associates and grabbed a small sample with a mix of liverworts and some fruiting Weissia for checking, from the location arrowed above, these being: Ctenidium molluscum, Ditrichum gracile, Encalypta streptocarpa, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, Lophozia excisa, Plagiochila porelloides, Thymus polytrichus, Tortella tortuosa and Weissia brachycarpa var. obliqua. My sample also contained shoots that look very much like Bryum kunzei, which is not known from Carmarthensire, so I'll send the sample to Tom, unless Sam would like to take a look first.

Llanelli 1919 tower

Ian Morgan tipped me off about a site with contaminated ground at the former tin works by the 1919 tower at Machynys (SS520988). So, today on a return journey from Llanelli, I made a brief visit to the area immediately east of the tower. Unfortunately I later found out that the area west of the tower is the main area of contamination, so I’ll have to look at this next time I’m passing. Consequently the list of 28 species noted today included few species to indicate that the area I searched was heavily contaminated, the only ones mildly suggestive of contamination including Cephaloziella hampeana frequent (photo 2), Solenostoma gracillimum rare, Weissia controversa var. controversa occasional and Lophozia excisa locally frequent (photos 3-4), the latter with odd bryophilus spore-producing bodies attached (photos 3-6) - if anyone can shed any light on these it will satidfy my curiosity. NB spores 10μm.

Penclawdd copperworks revisit 1

Plagiomnium cuspidatum with a few scraps of Lophozia excisa

I nipped down to Penclawdd to take Alfie for his constitutional walk today and spent 40 minutes on part of the ridge mentioned below. I was very pleased to relocate Sam's Plagiomnium cuspidatum, although P. affine/undulatum? [see below] was more frequent and I also found a few scraps of Lophozia excisa. In the process of producing a more complete list for the site I was struck by the Bryum below, which looks very kunzei-like to me. Whilst calcifuge species were more prominent, there were scattered patches of calcicoles; associates in the immediate vicinity of the Bryum included P. affine, B. capillare, Hypnum cupressiforme var. lacunosum, H. jutlandicum, Ceratodon purpureus & Barbula convoluta. Under the microscope the leaf margins are very weakly bordered with a few tiny, but sharply pointed teeth distally. the margins are weakly recurved towards the leaf base which is pigmented red. The single unripe sporophyte may be a bit of a negative as I'm not sure if fruiting is known in Britain? As always any comments are welcome.

Bryum caespiticium and spot the Lophozia excisa!

Re: Plagiomniun aff/und - I often get muddled by these two as stunted undulatum looks very similar to affine to me - what is the best way to separate them in the field?