Friday 7 February 2014

Cullaloe LNR - Hygroamblystegium tenax

To continue the riparian theme, this moss was growing on the spillway concrete. There were a couple of candidate species I thought, and initially I was checking it out for Cratoneuron. However the lack of rhizoids made me think otherwise and following keys through in both Watson and the BBS field guide landed me at the pair (Hygro)Amblystegium tenax and fluviatile. The former seems to be the one which prefers fast flowing water and has lightly toothed leaf margins. Maybe those two things are connected. The leaves are fairly short at about 1mm.

Hygroamblystegium tenax, Fountain Feather-moss

BBS Field Guide page

RBGE Hygroamblystegium slide

Life in the splash zone

Strongly nerved leaves to the tip

Under the microscope

Lightly toothed margin separates from species fluviatile

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