Habitat notes from C&S are as follows. Often
abundant on soil in arable (barley, wheat, maize, flax,
stubbles, grass leys, set-aside) fields, unshaded; associates
incl Anthoceros agrestis, Anthoceros punctatus, Barbula convoluta,
Barbula unguiculata, Bryum dichotomum, Bryum violaceum, Dicranella
schreberiana, Dicranella staphylina,
Ephemerum
minutissimum, Fossombronia pusilla,
Funaria
hygrometrica, Phaeoceros laevis, Riccia glauca, Riccia sorocarpao, Riccia subbifurca, Phascum cuspidatum, Tortula truncata, Trichodon
cylindricus. Also usually with herbaceous weeds such as Cerastium
glomeratum, Lamium
purpureum, Sinapis
arvensis, Stellaria
media, Urtica
urens, Veronica
persica. Besides widespread occurrence on unfertilised or
lightly fertilised soils, sometimes near exposed coasts, B. rubens is one of the
few mosses that is frequent in arable fields receiving high
inputs of artificial fertilisers (along with Oxyrrhynchium hians,
Funaria
hygrometrica and Tortula
truncata).
Also, soil of mainly bare patches in pastures,
grass leys and other grassland (with Bryum dichotomum, Dicranella
schreberiana,
Dicranella staphylina, Dicranella varia, Trichodon
cylindricus,
Fossombronia pusilla, Microbryum rectum, Phaeoceros laevis, Pleuridium
acuminatum,
Pseudephemerum nitidum, Phascum cuspidatum
var.
cuspidatum, Tortula
truncatula), soil heaps, garden soil, churchyards,
cemeteries, soil at edge of gravel car park, bare soil patches
on laneside banks, tracks, path edges and roadsides, cleared
woodland, soil disturbed at entrance to badger sett, open or
lightly shaded (with Barbula convoluta, Bryum sauteri, Trichodon
cylindricus,
Fissidens incurvus,
Phascum cuspidatum var. papillosum, Pleuridium
subulatum, Tortula
truncata). Clay-soil on soil-heap in woodland clearing,
lightly shaded, with Ceratodon purpureus.
Thin soil over sloping granite on boulder by viaduct, lightly
shaded. Patch of mainly bare soil on slope in pasture (with Trichodon
cylindricus). Rather acid soil among low granitic rocks in
acid grassland on hillside.
Dumped, partly bare soil near china clay quarries,
unshaded. Abundant over large area of coastal heath (over
serpentinite) burnt in previous year, on unshaded slopes
(locally with Funaria
hygrometrica). Soil on low
banks beside path above sea-cliff. On open area of peaty soil
on heath. Soil on old track in woodland, part shaded.Sandy
soil in dunes (with Bryum dichotomum). On
unshaded soils and sediment exposed beside reservoirs, where
occasionally plentiful in upper-part of inundation-zone (with
Bryum dichotomum, Campylopus
introflexus,
Ceratodon purpureus, Pohlia annotina, Pohlia
camptotrachela). Earthy slope of mine-spoil, almost
unshaded (with Bryum
dichotomum,
B.
subapiculatum,
Dicranella staphylina, Phascum cuspidatum
var.
papillosum,
Pleuridium acuminatum, Pseudephemerum
nitidum, Tortula
truncata, Trichodon
cylindricus). Thin soil on unshaded path near coast.
Unshaded soil on shaly sea-cliff. Thin damp soil over gabbro
boulder partly shaded in Grey Willow scrub (with Bryum bornholmense, Ephemerum serratum
s. l., Fossombronia
'husnotii', Riccia
beyrichiana, Riccia
subbifurca). Thin dry sandy soil on top of block of
concrete, partly shaded by Ash sapling.
Only recorded when tubers seen (rhizoidal,
axillary, or both), these are common on well-grown plants but
absent on young plants. Large patches from inundation-zone
beside Colliford Lake had many tubers
that were all dull yellow-brown (DTH 06-236). There
are several other records of plants with whitish, yellowish or
pink tubers; these tubers might have been
immature.
Occasionally c.fr.: capsules immature 1, 3-5, 7;
dehiscing 7-9; dehisced 6, 8,
9.