Ffynone
Very little in the way of mossing could sensibly be done during the April drought. I did take the opportunity to call in at Ffynone while water levels were down, with a couple of target species in mind. I didn't find any of the miniscule liverwort Sphenolobopsis pearsonii, which Tom had shown me at Cwm Rheidol earlier in the winter. I did, however, find some Heterocladium wulfsbergii above the main waterfall, which was new to the county, and in a very typical location.
Some Bartramia fruiting on the cliff above the fall initially looked good for B. ithyphylla, until I keyed it out. I then read Sam's flora account for B. pomiformis: "wispy-leaved plants with Diplophyllum albicans and Diphyscium foliosum on a rock face by Ffynnone waterfall raised hopes of Bartramia ithyphylla, but proved to be B. pomiformis var. crispa (Dixon, 1924)". It really is invaluable to have such a good flora to follow.
Bartramia pomiformis var. crispa
I went to Devil's Bridge with similar ambitions. I managed to get right round the bottom waterfall pool but added nothing new. In the ravive above the topmost falls I found Rhynchostegiella teneriffae and Fissidens taxifolius var. pallidicaulis which is probably no longer recorded as a separate taxon - in spite of clear morphological differences and a very restricted habitat, at least in Ceredigion.
ReplyDeleteIn other news, the Bryoerythrophyllum campylocarpum is also on rocks embedded in the path at Hafod. The habitat is so similar to where it grows in abundance at Devil's Bridge that I predicted I would find it as soon as I saw the rocks. Still no way of knowing whether it's been introduced to Wales but it's fairly obviously being spread round the county by tourists.