Lightning strikes twice - more Orthotrichum pumilum near Newport

A few hours tetrad-bashing on Saturday afternoon knocked of another 2.5 VC35 tetrads in the Llanmartin/Llandevaud/Kemmys Graig area east of Newport.  Although this is mundane lowland Monmouthshire/Newport, ST39V included the fringes of Wentwood and a few acidophiles such as Diplophyllum albicans and Rhytidiadelphus loreus.  Highlights were:

Orthotrichum pumilum in a hedge by Llanmartin Church, a couple of km from last year's colony and surely indicative of a 'mother load' of this species somewhere in SE Wales.
Gyroweisia tenuis on the mortar of Llanmartin Church.
Cirriphyllum piliferum in Llanmartin Churchyard (rare in the Newport area).
Plagiochila asplenioides in the gutter of Llandevaud Church (rare in the Newport area).
Funaria hygrometrica on forestry tracks at Kemmys Graig (I think this species is declining significantly).

So, not an outstanding day (Orthotrichum notwithstanding), but good to get another couple of squares finished.

Leptobarbula

I have recently put a fairly length blog article on the Sussex site (here) regarding the differences between L. berica and Gyroweisia tenuis.  Could be of some help in South Wales!  Not all patches of either species are readily identifiable and it's definitely worth collecting a goodly amount from different parts of a colony to help name it.  The books are conflicting in some respects which doesn't help.  The rhizoidal gemmae shown in the picture (actually on secondary protonema) are only of use to prove it is one or the other although there is a possibility that plants with lots of them are unlikely to be Leptobarbula.  I need a lot more fruiting specimens of both species to take this any further and it is crying out for molecular work which I would personally expect to unite these two, along with G. reflexa into one genus.

Hornwort success!

On Friday I made a third visit to the Ty-du arable fields at Capel Llanilltern, but much to my frustration the Phaeoceros rosettes still hadn't produced any horns. There were plenty of horns on the scattered plants of Anthoceros agrestis, but the many Phaeoceros plants were either sterile or else had male organs only. However, there were some clear differences between the plants and I suspect both Phaeoceros species are present. There were some completely sterile rosettes (top left photo) and some with dense male organs (top right); I suspect these are female and male plants of the dioecious P. laevis. There were also plants with more scattered male organs (bottom left and right photos), like the ones I photographed on my previous visit and which Sam thought might be P. carolinianus. I've brought a few rosettes home to incubate in the hope of coaxing these slow developers into producing horns!

George - your bottom-left photo has at least one young archegonium, appearing as a small lump.  I have annotated it, as well as a couple of antheridial pits on the same thallus.  It is P. carolinianus, whilst the first two photos are indeed male and female P. laevis.

All this left me only 45 minutes to poke around in St David's Churchyard at Groes-faen (ST071808). The only species of note among the 37 taxa recorded was Gyroweisia tenuis, tiny plants of which were growing in crevices of the west-facing wall of the church. Photos below - I hope others agree with the diagnosis as it's not a species I'm familiar with. The leaf tips varied in their bluntness between plants, but were mostly quite rounded.

The visit boosted the tetrad total (ST08Q) from 56 to 69 taxa.

Watch House Point Cliff revisited

Southbya tophacea is now well documented on this blog, thanks largely to Gareth and Hannah's efforts. However, as we were at East Aberthaw on the weekend, homage was paid to the tufa cliff first shown to me by Julian Woodman five years ago. On my previous visit no associates were recorded, so after a little photography I noted the following direct associates, listed in decreasing levels of abundance: Eucladium verticillatum, Didymodon tophaceus, Leiocolea turbinata, Cratoneuron filicinum, Trichostomum crispulum & Gyroweisia tenuis. No doubt other species are present, but perhaps the most noteworthy species was the Gyroweisia, which I was fairly confident with in the field despite being lime-encrusted. However, a small sample was collected for checking and photos below show shoots in situ, then before and after clearing with vinegar).

male Leiocolea turbinata

Adiantum capillus-veneris looking good too

Slender Stubble-moss by the Ogmore Dipping Bridge

On my way back from Merthyr Mawr yesterday, I checked the tetrad map and decided to make a quick pit-stop at the Dipping Bridge, in an attempt to take SS87Z over the 60 mark. I gave it 15 minutes and probably walked little more than 20m from the car, checking the downstream section of the left hand bank, which had a reasonable selection of species that should bump the list up a bit. The highlight however, was Gyroweisia tenuis growing as a few scattered patches on damp sections of the wall that runs parallel to the road as you approach from the south-east (SS89127835), one such patch highlighted below.

NB. the smallest tick marks =10μm (so leaves ~100μm wide)