The unusual inter-tidal niche of the rare moss Bryum marratii Wilson

Just thought id share a link to the recent paper about Bryum marratii based on study sites in south Wales as useful to have it on the blog too. It was great working with Des, although the 4am start to film a high tide submerging the mosses was a bit of a struggle ! Hopefully there are more collaborations in the pipeline. Im sure you have all seen it but worth adding to the blog anyhow. There is a follow up paper in press and ill share that too. If you need an electronic copy drop my a line at garethf@bgs.ac.uk

Link to Journal of Bryology

Research Gate 

You Tube Video 

Kerbstone query

One query from last week's Vale outing was this small, spidery-looking acrocarp found on a shaded roadside kerbstone near Llysworney. Longest leaves are 1.5mm long. It was probably growing on a thin layer of soil, so Didymodon umbrosus might be a possibility - but would this have such incrassate cells? Selection of microscope pics below; any thoughts welcome.

Slim pickings in the Vale

Parts of the Vale are still chronically under-recorded for bryophytes. The latest VC41 tetrad map shows a particularly bad white hole in SS97 and ST07:

Looking at the OS maps and aerial photos for some of these unrecorded tetrads it became obvious why no bryologists had bothered to record there - a mix of improved grassland and large arable fields, with a few lanes passing through and a distinct lack of woodland. Challenging territory indeed, but feeling rusty after the summer hiatus it seemed a good place to kick off the bryophyte recording season when I had a day off work last week. Not too many species to tax my brain.

I visited three tetrads on a day of sunshine and showers, with some lengthy downpours meaning time was lost while sheltering in the car. I started off at Llysworney, which had a bit more habitat variety than some of the other areas thanks to the village streets and walls, and Worney Wood - a new wood planted by the Woodland Trust. The woodland would presumably have been a couple of boring rye grass fields until it was planted a few years ago. Now it supports young trees quite rich in epiphytes, though with nothing of note except for some Porella platyphylla and Didymodon sinuosus on an old field boundary Ash. Tetrad SS97S has now moved along from 3 to 37 bryophyte species.

Much of the day was spent walking the lanes and footpaths in SS97R, which at least succeeded in putting this tetrad on the bryological map with 49 taxa recorded. It was a bit of s struggle though. The arable fields had been recently sown with winter cereals, but a sample collected from a small area of unploughed margin produced three tuberous Bryum species: B. rubens (large knobbly red tubers), B. ruderale (large tubers & papillose violet rhizoids) and B. violaceum (smaller tubers & smooth violet rhizoids - photo below).

To end the day there was time for a brief stop at Llanmihangel churchyard before the heavens opened again. This small churchyard, tucked into a valley bottom, proved to be the nicest spot of the day, and produced a few species not seen at the earlier sites: Cirriphyllum crassinervium, Lophocolea bidentata, Thuidium tamariscinum and Plagiochila asplenioides (the latter growing on a stone grave). SS97V was another tetrad that hadn't been recorded previously, so all 20 species were new.

A feature of the day was the abundance of Anomodon viticulosus on laneside walls and a few hedgerow tree bases. This species is proving frequent in the lime-rich Vale and I look forward to putting more dots on the map on future visits.

I enjoyed the day despite making only 128 bryophyte records and failing to take any tetrads past the 60 mark. No doubt a spring visit would add a few more Orthotrichum, Ulota, etc, but is it worth the effort? I think the time would probably be better spent elsewhere.

Cefn Bryn flushes revisited

Shoots of an interesting looking Cephalozia, which were scattered through several mounds of Sphagnum subnitens growing in an area of mild base flushing @ SS49679051 proved to be pleniceps under the microscope, based on leaf morphology (photos above). I’ll send a voucher to Sam as this is new for Glamorgan. Otherwise I only had limited time to check on a small area around the colony of Palustriella falcata I noted earlier this year (I wanted to double check that I had correctly identified it following the recent nearby discovery of Hamatocaulis – it was just P. falcata - photos below). The spring line below where the Bracken ends (visible in aerial above) holds species such as Anagallis tenella, Campylium stellatum, Ctenidium molluscum, Fissidens adianthoides and Philonotis calcarea. This is the first time I’ve looked at this faeture and I only had time for 10 minutes here, so well worth a revisit. Cefn Bryn continues to turn up interesting bryophytes and Sphagnum platyphyllum is my new target now H. vernicosus has been ticked off – there were some good pretenders today in the area with P. falcata and Scorpidium cossonii, but it was just odd-looking denticulatum unfortunately. Checks of a couple of Bryum samples from burnt areas of acid ground proved to be bornholmense, which I would suggest is probably quite frequent at this site.

 Vegetation on left side of stream with abundant P. falcata & S. cossonii

Odd Lophocolea in Monmouth

I stopped briefly in Monmouth this morning to check some roadside fungi (just a Tricholoma sp.) I had noticed, and then grabbed a bit of the Lophocolea growing below the fungus. It looked consistently small and I had hopes of L. bispinosa, but a check with the lens revealed that many leaves were 3- or even 4-dentate. I brought a bit home, and the microscope revealed the plants were abundantly male but that the 3-/4-dentate leaves continued a good distance up the stem from any obvious male bracts. The non-decurrent insertion line ruled out L. bispinosa, whilst the overall appearance and strong smell excluded L. brookwoodiana.  I have concluded it's just an odd form of L. bidentata, but have kept the specimen just in case.

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.

Clyne Common walkabout

I've started looking at Sphagnum a bit more critically the odd occasions I have managed to get out recently. During an opportunistic stroll over a small part of Clyne Common yesterday I walked a 300m section of M29 soakway and came across a short section that held a few patches of S. squarrosum and S. angustifolium (photos below), the latter a species not previously recorded in Gower. In addition to abundant Hypericum elodes and Potamogeton polygoyfolius, associates included Warnstorfia exannulata and Straminergon stramineum.

As with last weeks S. teres, it is surprising how localised these more interesting patches of vegetation can be. Much of the area I walked yesterday supported Molinia/wet heath vegetation, the most prominent Sphagna here being denticulatum and papillosum with occasional S. subnitens, the wetter runnels holding locally abundant S. denticulatum, S. inundatum and S. fimbriatum, with S. fallax being rather scarce. One area with evidence of base flushing, i.e. with plenty of Anagallus tenella and Campylium stellatum, looked promising, but other than an increase in S. subnitens held no surprises. I periodically check samples of S. palustre, as I know papillosum can be a surprisingly good pretender and sure enough the Clyne material I'd jotted down as palustre proved to be papillosum. I wonder how may errors there might be amongst some of my casual recording efforts, though I do try and check samples as often as I can. NB Last weeks Fairwood collection was checked and was real palustre.

I've still not yet encountered S. contortum or S. flexuosum in Glamorgan. Hopefully they will reveal themselves in Gower before resorting to visit to Pant-y-sais, where Sam has recorded both. The other South Wales Sphagnum I'd like to see is girgensohnii, so a winter trip to an adjacent county may soon be on the cards.