Monday 2 May 2016

Kilvey Hill revisited


The east side of the hill has some interesting looking habitats and I identified a spoil heap from aerials that looked worthy of a 30 minute session, that was after picking up a second-hand rear-diff' for my ailing car. It turned out the spoil was bone dry and seemed to have limited interest, but there was the odd runnel and patches of flushed acid ground with M35 markers such as Ranunculus omiophyllus, R. flammula, Juncus bulbosus, J. articulatus, Callitriche stagnalis s.s. and Sphagnum denticulatum. About 20 bryophytes were noted in these flushed muddy patches including S. palustre, subnitens, fimbriatum, Sarmentypnum exannulatum, Archidium alternifolium and a little base-enrichment was suggested by patches of Fissidens adianthoides, Bryum pseudotriquetrum and B. pallens, the latter in fruit, which is said to be uncommon (summer and autumn), so a few pics attached for the record/checking given the seemingly atypical habitat (although it was perched on a soil-capped rock, so not amongst the really wet stuff). Note the pink colour, although well developed, was not as intense as I've seen on more typical examples, hence a little uncertainty despite it keying out seemingly unambiguously.

5 comments:

  1. Excellent peristome photos Barry.

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    1. the squashed lid, which looks like a sliced lemon, is more good fortune than skill

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  2. I wonder whether that leaf border might be a bit strong and the leaf tip a bit too long for Bryum pallens. I'm not sure which other species it could be - perhaps one of the tuberous ones - but it doesn't look quite right to me. Sorry!

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  3. Thanks Sam. I'll take another look and package what's left of the sample, which has a few good capsules in tact - I suspect it's going to require your attention for a more definitive ID.

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  4. Well I've had another look and the key still takes me to pallens. I'm not sure which dichotomy might be leading me astray? I did a bit of Fisking too and could find no rhizoidal tubers either, so I'm well and truly stuck! I'll send you the remainder of the sample in the hope you can enlighten me...

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