Amazing Splachnum gallery

Here:
http://www.milueth.de/Moose/Aktuell/Splachnum-rubrum/splachnum.html

Some other nice photos of bryophytes and excursions to make you jealous too

Ptychomitrium polyphyllum

Found at Carlingnose Point, in the only hectad in the county with a previous record. Nice moss, recently encountered on an outing in D&G too. Ptychomitrium means folded mitre, presumably because of the lines on the capsule. Leaves crisp on drying and even a bit of dryness sees them start to curl over.

(Frey keying:
Acrocarps, p.141
1. Not Buxbaumidae
2. Not Tetraphidae
3. Not lfs strictly in two rows
7. Not filaments on ventral costa
9. Upper laminal cells +/- isodiametric
37. Not Cinclidotaceae
38. Not capsules globose
39. Not Meesiaceae
40. Lower laminal cells weakly differentiated (I take issue with this, as with Didymodon rigidulus!)
44. Leaf margins unbordered
45. Plants forming small cushions or patches on rocks, lvs crisped when dry, laminal cells smooth, capsules usually present, ovoid-ellipsoid, calyptra mitrate (?) ->Ptychomitriaceae, p.275

1.3.4. Leaf margins dentate, blackish below, seta yellowish, capsules ellipsoid, on exposed rocks and walls

Nestling in a R.fasciculare cushion

Torn calyptra is typical, curling leaves

Blanket of revolute margins

Leaves

Toothed margin towards apex

Leaf section (not bad, eh?)

Isn't she lovely

More loverly Orthotrichum diaphanum from Carlingnose, from a different square this time, and on a tree

Carlingnose campaign latest

40 species of bryophyte located so far (and a couple more to be examined). Plenty more to do, but Metzgeria fruticulosa was a nice find covering an entire boulder on the slopes. Not at all where I expect to see it but I couldn't make it be another species despite trying. I may try again still though.

Coverage:

The list:

	Preferred name	squares
1	Brachythecium rutabulum	7
2	Eurhynchium praelongum	7
3	Hypnum cupressiforme	7
4	Lophocolea bidentata	6
5	Bryum capillare	5
6	Grimmia pulvinata	5
7	Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus	5
8	Calliergonella cuspidata	4
9	Fissidens taxifolius	4
10	Cirriphyllum piliferum	3
11	Didymodon insulanus	3
12	Plagiomnium undulatum	3
13	Racomitrium fasciculare	3
14	Scleropodium purum	3
15	Amblystegium serpens	2
16	Ceratodon purpureus	2
17	Eurhynchium striatum	2
18	Orthotrichum diaphanum	2
19	Oxyrrhynchium hians	2
20	Polytrichum juniperinum	2
21	Racomitrium aciculare	2
22	Rhizomnium punctatum	2
23	Warnstorfia fluitans	2
24	Weissia controversa	2
25	Barbula convoluta	1
26	Bryum argenteum	1
27	Bryum pseudotriquetrum	1
28	Didymodon rigidulus	1
29	Fissidens bryoides	1
30	Fossombronia pusilla	1
31	Hedwigia stellata	1
32	Metzgeria fruticulosa	1
33	Mnium hornum	1
34	Orthotrichum cupulatum	1
35	Orthotrichum stramineum	1
36	Philonotis fontana	1
37	Pseudocrossidium revolutum	1
38	Racomitrium heterostichum	1
39	Schistidium apocarpum	1
40	Thuidium tamariscinum	1

Didymodon rigidulus at Carlingnose

After some long deliberations I was finally helped over the line on this one by LK. At least I got the genus right!

The leaves on this are barely 1.5mm long, so cutting a section was fun. I finally managed a botched job on the second day with a fresh razor. Hopefully I can improve. 

Habit - a low cushion with orangey red older leavs

Single leaf, without tip!

Leaf tip - no hyaline cell on this one

Finally a semi-usable section

Multicellular gemmae from leaf axils

Gemma in situ with budded protonema

Springtail moss fertilization

From wiki entry on Ceratodon purpureus

<<

Microarthropod-mediated fertilization

A 2012 study has found that male and female fire moss emit different and complex volatile organic scents. Female plants emit more compounds than male plants. Springtails were found to choose female plants preferentially, and the study found that springtails enhance moss fertilization. All together, the results seem to suggest a plant-pollinator relationship analogous to those found in flower plants

>>

British Bryophyte density

This slide nicked from a presentation/document by Dave Denney of SNH, who I think generated it from NBN. Some amazing density in more regions than I expected.

Chemical testing in mosses

Something I'm used to in the land of fungi, and maybe even in Lichens (though I have yet to do it), I didn't know that chemical tests can also be done on mosses. Trying to bring to ground a reddening moss from Carlingnose (which I fancy to be Didymodon fallax) I uncovered this little gem of a factoid from N.America.

Bryoerythrophyllum and Didymodon vinealis group test red with KOH, while Barbula test yellow!

Is it reasonable to assume that you are just speeding up the natural reddening process?

Carlingnose

Nice Racomitrium fasciculare and Warnstofria fluitans pair at Carlingnose point. Behind the same rock was this surprise Bryum pseudotriquetrum

R.fasciculare and W.fluitans

B.pseudtriquetrum

Schistidium apocarpum

I thought this was going to be a Racomitrium at first until I got it under the microscope. It was then that I saw the capsule and twigged. Note the hair-pointed perichaetal leaves versus the 'normal' leaf

Plagiomnium undulatum

Carlingnose. Common moss, but a nice one

Undulating, bordered and toothed

The rounded leaves that can cause confusion!

Strongly Decurrent leaf entry

Racomitrium aciculare

One of my favourite mosses, from its wriggly little leaf cells to its jaunty cap- this one from Blariadam Forest near Kelty in Fife.

Orthotrichum diaphanum

From a rock at Carlingnose Point nature reserve, the only Orthotrichum which has a hair pointed leaf. Also the one whose calyptra looks most like a watermelon

Calypogeia muelleriana

Another one from the Hermitage

Lateral leaf margins entire, no blue oil bodies, underleaves 2-lobed to 1/2-3/4 with 4-6 rows of cells, these 30-80um long

Bi-lobed underleaves

'pointy lateral leaf tips' - no notch, no blue oil

leaf tip underleaves

Hermitage, Perthshire

On a day trip to walk to the wonderful hermitage in Perthshire, a watery wonderland where the autumn leaves are a bit past their best. The bryophytes, though, are luscious, and I couldn't resists snagging a couple even though I was 'off duty'. Favourite of the day was Bazzania trolobata, which I have wanted to see for a while. One of those things you see in the field guide and look forward to meeting it.

I don't have photos that really do it justice. Might have to try again on that.

(to the left is down)

Each leaf has 3 or four points

Branches below point back into the 'mound'

Carlingnose coverage extended

Now all the main squares have had some visit at least, although there is a lot more investigation to be done. 34 species in the bag, with the most diverse square having 21 spp recorded. I suspect some of those spp were actually recorded in another square earlier in the year though. Not sure what to do with them, but they include Hedwigia so I don't want to lose that one!

Coverage map:

A few location shots:

And some of its inhabitants:

And the list so far:

Preferred Name

Common Name

Taxon

Fossombronia pusilla	Common Frillwort	liverwort
Lophocolea bidentata	Bifid Crestwort	liverwort
Atrichum undulatum	Common Smoothcap	moss
Barbula convoluta	Lesser Bird's-claw Beard-moss	moss
Brachythecium rutabulum	Rough-stalked Feather-moss	moss
Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum	Red Beard-moss	moss
Bryum argenteum	Silver-moss	moss
Bryum capillare	Capillary Thread-moss	moss
Calliergonella cuspidata	Pointed Spear-moss	moss
Ceratodon purpureus	Redshank	moss
Cirriphyllum piliferum	Hair-pointed Feather-moss	moss
Dicranoweisia cirrata	Common Pincushion	moss
Didymodon insulanus	Cylindric Beard-moss	moss
Eurhynchium praelongum	Common Feather-moss	moss
Eurhynchium striatum	Common Striated Feather-moss	moss
Fissidens bryoides	Lesser Pocket-moss	moss
Fissidens taxifolius	Common Pocket-moss	moss
Grimmia pulvinata	Grey-cushioned Grimmia	moss
Hedwigia stellata	Starry Hoar-moss	moss
Hypnum cupressiforme	Cypress-leaved Plait-moss	moss
Hypnum jutlandicum	Heath Plait-moss	moss
Mnium hornum	Swan's-neck Thyme-moss	moss
Orthotrichum anomalum	Anomalous Bristle-moss	moss
Orthotrichum cupulatum	Hooded Bristle-moss	moss
Orthotrichum stramineum	Straw Bristle-moss	moss
Oxyrrhynchium hians	Swartz's Feather-moss	moss
Philonotis sp.		moss
Polytrichum formosum	Bank Haircap	moss
Racomitrium aciculare	Yellow Fringe-moss	moss
Racomitrium heterostichum	Bristly Fringe-moss	moss
Rhizomnium punctatum	Dotted Thyme-moss	moss
Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus	Springy Turf-moss	moss
Sanionia uncinata	Sickle-leaved Hook-moss	moss
Scleropodium purum	Neat Feather-moss	moss
Thuidium tamariscinum	Common Tamarisk-moss	moss
Weissia controversa	Green-tufted Stubble-moss	moss

Fossombronia pusilla!!!

A plant I've been looking forward to seeing. Finding it myself is a bonus, as often nice plants emerge from group outings. The third record that I can discern from Fife and there aren't enormous numbers of records from Scotland it would seem. In Fife it is known from the area around Star Moss (NO306035) and just south of Thornton (NT285959). All three Fife records on NBN are from 2004.

Distribution from NBN

Pictures

Habit

Habit 2 - sporophyte emerging

Purple rhizoids

Broken sporophyte

Spores

Spores and elater