Bryum dichotomum from Carlingnose Point

In a typical location on some very open ground bordering the entrance to the reserve and the end of the road. Note the leaf axil bulbils in the lower photo

habit

bulbils

Double vision

Two nice new byrophytes - Bryum radiculosum and Riccia sorocarpa. Both of them were new to me on Sunday and both new to Carlingnose Point on Monday!

Having been first introduced to the Riccia by LK beside the path on Sunday in Peeblesshire I was aware of the existence of this liverwort and its likely location, but it was the Bryum that made it happen. DL showed us it on Sunday and so I knew it was both under-recorded and mortar-loving. I had in my mind a location with lots of old mortar which I headed for on Monday lunchtime with immediate success. It took me no more than a minute to find what I was looking for. This is the benefit of spending time in the field with people who know what they're doing! Neither species had been recorded in NT18 before (according to NBN - let's see what the atlas says). Close inspection of both specimens revealed only somewhat disappointing tubers. they were there, but smallish and not very interesting. 80um was the biggest I could find (which was from the Fife sample). You can see a couple clinging to the stem of the Peeblesshire specimen below. Maybe I need to dig a bit deeper and wash carefully.

"Radiculose": producing many rootlets

Peebles:

Fife:

and the current NBN map for the Bryum ...

(details from VC85, or close enough:
Easter Muirhead, NS99, 1978 - DL
Glenfarg, NO11, 1977 - DL
N. of Kinghorn,NT2787, 01/04/2011 - LK/DC)

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?)

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

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

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

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

Weissia controversa s.l.

Nestled on a veritcal soil banking beside Fissidens taxifolius, this tiny moss seems to be one of a complex which has been split. While I did have a capsule, as can be seen from the photos, and this is the thing which you need to determine which variant you have, I inadvertently blew it from the stage of my compound microscope never to be seen again!

It has long (for its size) pointed leaves with involute margins in the mid-section, before opening out to a point at the apex. The leaf base is broader and not papillose, giving a three stage effect. The leaves crisp up nicely on drying.

BBS field guide page

The whole thing (or "habit")

Base close-up

Single leaf when wet and extended. c.2.5mm

Transition to papillose middle section

And pointy apex

Carlingnose Sanionia

Beautiful moss found in the second place at Carlingnose. I had always known this from trees before but in both cases here it has been on rocks. Looking at the books, it seems that rock is fine as a substrate. Every day's a school day. Beautiful moss, wherever it is.

Carlingnose quest

For the past couple of days been recording Carlingnose Point nature reserve for brief spells (lunchtime). Could be fun to work over the area one 10m square at a time. Not that big a reserve so I could build up a decent picture of what's there by nibbling away at it. Experimenting with recording at a finer granularity than normal. As you would expect, some species will feature in every 10m square. Hypnum cupressiforme is winning the race so far, along with Kindbergia praelonga. Wherever there are rocks there is also Grimmia, but only pulvinata (so far?). My polygon needs some adjustment to resemble the reserve boundaries more closely too.

I might try to do this with Cullalor LNR, but that's a much bigger challenge because of its size. Would be an interesting project though.

Grimmia and friend (Orthotrichum?)

G.pulvinata map so far

Hypnum cupressiforme

Kindbergia (Eurhynchium) praelonga(um)