Bonfire fungus

I've been checking Funaria-covered bonfire sites for fruit bodies of bryoparasitic fungi for ages, so I was pleased to finally spot some little orange apothecia near the car park at Cwm Llwch (Brecon Beacons) at the weekend.

Using the bryoparasitic pezizales website, the large, smooth, elliptical spores are a good fit with Octospora excipulata (web link here), which seems to be the commonest of the three fungi recorded as parasitic on Funaria.

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.

Bryophilus fungus

I'm aware of Epibryon plagiochilae on Plagiochila, but don't recall seeing this one. Any help appreciated.

Lower Clydach River above Craig-cefn-parc

I never found anything remarkable during a two hour search along a 1km stretch of the river today, which lacked any cascades greater than what are visible in the above photo. There was a nice colony of Jungermannia pumila (above) on one of only a couple of small cliffs, but probably the most interesting species were Ephemerum minutissimum and Bryum sauteri in an area of disturbed M23a.

One curiosity was Phlebia radiata which was enveloping entire shoots of Hypnum cupressiforme creating an interesting form (note the sample on the right in the image below has been turned upside-down). 

More Lophocolea semiteres in VC41

Because we've been concentrating mostly on fungi this autumn, most of our bryophyte recording has been rather incidental. Some of the most interesting records recently include a very large colony of Lophocolea semiteres in a Pine/Spruce forest in Ton Mawr (SS79589751) growing on needle beds and on fallen trunks with Hypnum jutlandicum and Lophocolea bidentata. While it is, perhaps, an unwelcome species in general, it is an interesting addition to the conifer plantation flora of Glamorgan.

Lophocolea semiteres, Ton Mawr

The Ton Mawr Sitka Spruce forest also has a small population of Leucobryum juniperoideum (which I've posted on before) and we saw more of this under Sitka in Glyncorrwg last week. There are now at least 4 records of this species associated with Sitka Spruce forests in Glamorgan.
re: Comments - See photo of Maes Gwyn Larch plantation habitat below.

Lophocolea semiteres habitat, Maes Gwyn Larch plantation

While foraying near the Red Jacket Iron Works site (near Jersey Marine) we noted a significant population of Riccia subbifurca growing with Fossombronia (not yet in fruit) and large amounts of what looks like Cephaloziella rubella (stilling working on it!). Lots of attractive Calliergonella lindbergii and Climacium dendroides here too and there is a large selection of grassland and birch/willow scrub fungi, such as Blue-edge Pinkgill (Entoloma serrulatum).

Track with Riccia subbifurca and Fossombronia, Red Jacket

Entoloma serrulatum, Red Jacket

Leason Wood ramble

A ramble through a short section of the north Gower Ash woods last Friday produced a few records of interest, the best of which were a small colony of Marchesinia mackaii (photos of part of the colony and the rock it is on below, this being only the second north Gower colony I've come across) and a sheep-trodden Hygrocybe calyptriformis in an open grassy area. It would be an interesting exercise to monitor the changes in composition of the field layer in these Ash-dominated woodlands as Ash-die-back takes its course.

Caldey Island

During our bank holiday visit to the island, casual recording produced a little Didymodon umbrosus on the north-facing wall that houses dovecote adjacent to the Old Priory (approx. location shown), which appears to be new for Pembs. We never ventured onto the coastal parts of the island, so the only other casual observations were of fairly routine fare.

Back in Tenby a rust on a well-established colony of Malva pseudolavateraall up the esplanade zig-zag may be of interest (I'll email Mr Stringer to check the id, but I'm suspecting Puccinia malvacearum). Plenty other good vascular plants there too including Clinopodium ascendens, Salvia verbenaca and Verbascum nigrum. Unfortunately Carpobrotus edulis was among the non-natives thriving there!

Frostwort in the Beacons

I recently accompanied Karen Wilkinson on a trip to Craig Waun Taf and Craig Fan Ddu - the line of crags to the south of Pen y Fan.   These are some of the most acidic Old Red Sandstone crags in the Brecon Beacons and previous surveys have shown them to support a fairly unremarkable bryophyte flora.   However, there are a few interesting species present and I have a very clear memory from 1999 of a young Sam showing me a puzzling liverwort which looked a bit like a pointed-leaved Diplophyllum / Scapania that he had collected at Craig Fan Ddu and which turned out to be Douinia ovata - the first ever record from the National Park and the first modern  record for south Wales since HH Knights found it in northern Carms and northern Brecks in the early 20th C.   After much searching, we found the Douinia to still be present and it appears to be doing well, although it is restricted to a very small area on the crags.

  
We only recorded a few additional bryophytes for the site, but one of them was rather exciting.   I have never seen a Gymnomitium south of Ceredigion, but there on one rock face were three small tufts and a few scattered patches of what looked to be G. obtusum, which if Sam agrees, it will be new to our south Wales counties.   The pics below show the tightly appressed overlapping leaves of this tiny liverwort, which has a silvery appearance when dry.  Most leaf tips of this specimen appear to be blunt, which seem to point to it being obtusum rather than concinnatum.

Much of the focus of our visit was on the vascular plants.  I knew that Silene maritima was present at Craig Fan Ddu, but I hadn't realised just how frequent it is and this species really makes it stand out from other crags in the Brecon Beacons.   A few other crag specialists including Thalictrum minus and Sedum rosea are present, but they are scarce here compared to other crags in the central and western Beacons.   Towards the end of our visit we turned a corner and were amazed to see several plants of Salix herbacea, a species I have always wanted to see in the National Park.  Overall we counted about 20 plants, about half of them tucked away amongst heathy vegetation growing along the top edge of the crags and easily overlooked.    

 The following day we checked previous Salix herbacea records for the Pen-y-Fan/ central Breacons area - to cut a long story short, the local record centre/ NBN data gives the impression that there are quite a few records for the area, however most of this is noise resulting from species compilations and centroid grid references and the only real records seem to be a 1972 record from Craig Fan Ddu and possibly the same location as ours, an unlocalised 1888 record by Ley and a 1952 record from Craig Cwm Sere, which the local BSBI Recorder is following up.   Leafminers had been at work on some Salix plants and a couple were also infected by what I hope is the fungus Melampsora arctica.    

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.