Cyprus samples

Couldn't resist bringing back a few holiday bryos last month, a good selection of British species which I managed to identify, including:

Lots of Sphaerocarpos michelii, Aloina ambigua plus and odd glaucous bobbly thing at Kolossi Castle, which if any one has a suggestion I'd be interested to hear?

Southbya nigrella, Fossombronia caespitiformis & Microbryum davallianum (Avakas Gorge). The flora was stunning, but the bryophytes were an unexpected bonus.

Holiday hepatics

I made a 5 day visit to Andalucía and Extremadura (SW Spain) last week, and photographed a few bryophytes as well as looking at birds, flowers, butterflies etc.  The weather was rather damp, but that meant liverworts were looking great.  I didn't make any real effort to look at bryophytes, let alone collecting them, but it was great to see some rare British species in great abundance.  These included Bartramia stricta (photo), Cheilothela chloropus, Riccia nigrella (photo) and Targionia hypophylla (photo).  I only found Sphaerocarpos sp. (photo) once.

 Three liverworts that are absent from Britain were especially interesting: Riccia bicarinata (photo), R. lamellosa (photo) and the wonderful Oxymitra incrassata (photo).

Stanner shines in rainy Radnorshire

Grimmia decipiens under scrutiny

On Monday Sam led a BBS group around Stanner Rocks showing us a succession of rare Grimmia species and much more besides. Whilst the weather was not ideal for looking at the critical characters of this tricky genus, the liverworts were at their best and together with vascular plants, highlights came thick and fast and included Bartramia stricta, Frullania fragilifolia, Gagea bohemica, Grimmia decipiens, G. laevigata, G. lisae, G. longirostris (poss?), G. ovalis, Riccia beyrichiana, R. nigrella, R. subbifurca, Schistidium pruinosum, Sedum forsterianum, Silene viscaria, Targionia hypophylla, Teesdalia nudicaulis & Veronica spicata. Phew!

Above:

G. decipiens - G. lisae

G. longirostris - G. ovalis

Schistidium pruinosum

Below:

Bartramia stricta - Frullania fragilifolia

R. nigrella - Silene viscaria

Sedum forsterianum

a rather nice little community with Bartramia stricta, Sedum forsterianum, Silene viscaria, Targionia hypophylla, & Veronica spicata.

rain-soaked Rory taking an end of session record shot of rain-soaked Stanner