Llandaff Cathedral

If a bryologist were visiting my home tetrad (ST17P), the first place they would probably head would be Llandaff Cathedral and the attached graveyard. It might seem odd, then, that I'd never done any mossing there until Saturday. This was because Barry had paid a visit in 2013. However, Barry's visit was quite fleeting so it seemed worth another look, and I didn't have access to the car so my options were limited to somewhere close to home.

I was particularly hoping to relocate two calcicoles recorded by Barry which I'd never seen: Scorpiurium circinatum and Didymodon umbrosus.

The Scorpiurium proved easy to find and was fairly frequent around the base of the cathedral walls on the northern, southern and eastern aspects. It also occurred on some low walls nearby, as in the pic below.

Scorpiurium circinatum

The Didymodon was a different matter - I thought I'd failed to find it, but on checking my samples at home I did find a couple of tiny stems which could, perhaps, be this species - see photos below. It looks fairly similar to Barry's photo from 2013, but it seems to lack the basal hyaline cells mentioned in Smith so I think it must be something else (not just a wretched Schistidium I hope!).

The cathedral walls also added two species for the tetrad: Tortella tortuosa and Pseudocrossidium revolutum.

I then had a look at the graveyard, which added eight more species for the tetrad including Cirriphyllum piliferum, Didymodon tophaceus, Brachythecium populeum and Homalothecium lutescens.

Llandaff cathedral graveyard

The most surprising find, though, was a small patch of fruiting Zygodon conoideus on a sloping grave (gemmae checked microscopically). Has anyone else seen this species on stone?

Grave supporting Zygodon conoideus

Zygodon conoideus on gravestone, mixed with Frullania dilatata

Finally, this Schistidium was growing on a semi-shaded wall top near the cathedral. The leaves have short, toothed hair points and the whole plant is quite large (stems to 5cm). I'd have thought this was apocarpum rather than crassipilum based on the short hair points, but the leaves aren't falcate. Any suggestions welcome, thanks.
 

a few more pics showing fertile / reproductive features to look out for

I just had a quick look through photos to see if I had examples of other features to look out for ....

large gemmae on leaf tips of Grimmia hartmanii (lots in Neath waterfalls area and near Penderyn so should hopefully get into Glam - it may well be on the Glam side of the Afon Nedd above the Angel Inn); tiny plantlets on Leucodon;  male Lunularia; short fruits on Breutelia usually well tucked away in middle of tufts.

Leucodon revisited

This lunchtime I took the short cycle ride down to Bute Park to see how the patch of Leucodon sciuroides which I found last May was faring. As far as I know this is the only currently known patch of Leucodon in VC41. It is growing on a fallen-over semi-mature Sycamore on the Taff riverbank, the roots of the tree having been scoured out by the river leading to its semi-prostrate state.

Leucodon host tree, May 2014. Leucodon patch arrowed.

At the time, Sam commented "I'm sure it'll be a new colonist, though goodness knows where from. As far as I can find there are only 4 Glamorgan records, the most recent being from the 1970s."

Leucodon patch, May 2014

Leucodon patch, February 2015

Compared to last May, the patch appeared a little bigger - it seems to have made ground on the Isothecium myuroides which is above it and to the left in the photos above. It was also rubbing shoulders with Metzgeria furcata, Frullania dilatata, Hypnum cupressiforme var resupinatum and Amblystegium serpens.

Leucodon patch, February 2015

Elsewhere on the same branch grow Cryphaea heteromalla, Homalothecium sericeum, Rhyncostegium confertum, Orthotrichum lyellii and a Ulota sp. It's a good tree for epiphytes.

Like last year, I spent a while searching other trees in the park without luck. Perhaps there really is only this one patch of Leucodon in the area.

Don't always believe what the books say

Just flicking through the New Atlas and glanced at some of the comments regarding production of sporophytes in some species.   As recorders don't always make a note of whether a species was fruiting or not, it seems the BRC bryophyte database has very few records of fruiting in some very common species, which can then be interpreted as some species producing fruits only rarely.   Many of the common dioicous pleurocarps such as Calliergonella cuspidata, Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, R. triquetrus, Hylocomium splendens, Pseudoscleropodium purum and the like are often reported in the text books as fruiting only rarely.  This may be true taking Britain as a whole, but we have found in south Wales that some of these species seem to fruit reasonably often.  I usually make a special search for fruits if I come across large patches of pleurocarps and it is surprising how often they are present - late winter seems to be a good time to look.   The next time you are walking across a dull bit of heathland with abundant Pleurozium keep an eye open for fruits - although this moss does seem fruit less often than some of the other species mentioned above.    You may have to dig around a bit in patches of some species - e.g. in Breutelia setae are very short and fruits hidden well inside hummocks; on Pseudocleropodium fruits appear to be produced on the previous years growth and so despite having a long seta the capsules can still be hidden amongst stems.

I have still to find fruits on Climacium in Wales (seen them once in Yorkshire) and the only time I have seen them on Rhodobryum was when I examined an old herbarium packet containing a specimen collected near Carmarthen, but I live in hope.

        

Didymodon rigidulus with missing tips?

I collected a sample from a sunny concrete wall at Pencoed Rugby Club (of all places) today. It looks good for Didymodon rigidulus in all respects except that many of the leaf tips are missing (and they look like they've been shed rather than chewed off by slugs). Is this species known to lose its leaf tips? I can find no mention of it in the books I have.

I'm pretty sure it's not Didymodon sinuous as the margins are recurved (and entire) and the nerve is very strong.

Thanks
George

Penrice

A very quick search of three Acer cf. velutinum in Penrice Estate (in the hope of finding Habrodon) this afternoon produced 22 species, the best of which were Neckera pumila, Brachytheciastrum velutinum, Orthotrichum striatum & O. stramineum. Sandra found a hibernating Grey Shoulder-knot on a nearby fallen trunk, which was rather nice.

Neckera pumila

Grey Shoulder-knot

Mid-week, Bryum donianum was found growing with Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum amongst grassy overhangs on the sandy slopes below Cwm Ivy Tor, an interesting habitat.

Ditrichum flexicaule

Following George's photos of Ditrichum gracile from Cefn-onn, here are a couple of pics of D. flexicaule sensu stricto from the tops of limestone boulders at Craig y Cilau.  The lower photo shows the characteristic branches with short, imbricate leaves - D. gracile doesn't have these.  There are problematic intermediates though, and a widespread feeling among British bryologists that this isn't the safest of splits.