*1: Treamble, 1965, JAP
(BBSUK) (Paton 1969a: 694).
[Older report (Lambourne, in Rilstone 1949) is not supported
by a specimen: Paton 1969a: 694].
*2: SE. of Mitchell,
1965, JAP (BBSUK) (Paton 1969a: 694). [Older
report (Polperro, in Rilstone 1919) is not supported by a
specimen: Paton 1969a: 694].
Hill et
al. (2008: 141) noted that F. caespitiformis sensu
lato has been extended to include F. caespitiformis subsp.
multispira
(Schiffn.) J.R.Bray & Cargill (Stotler et al. 2003). F. husnotii (including
its var. anglica
W.E.Nicholson) is treated as a synonym of subsp. multispira by R. E.
Stotler and B. J. Crandall-Stotler
(http://bryophytes.plant.siu.edu/fossombronia.html). Although
Hill et al. (loc. cit.) commented that
it was not then clear whether all British plants of F. caespitiformis belong
to subsp. multispira, this is
true of small numbers of Cornish (see Map) and other British
Isles specimens studied by JAP (pers. comm.).
Unfortunately, it cannot be assumed that all Fossombronia with
colourless rhizoids determined in the past as F. husnotii correspond
to F. caespitiformis subsp.
multispira, since
atypical colourless rhizoids have occasionally been recorded
in other species of the genus, including F. wondraczekii. Hence,
records of F. 'husnotii' where
spores and elaters were not (or were probably not) checked are
mapped and discussed separately here. F. caespitiformis
(subsp. undet.) with purple rhizoids is also mapped
separately.
Habitat notes from Cornwall for F. caespitiformis
(subsp. undet.) with purple rhizoids are as follows. Three
records from arable fields, including a new grass-ley and two
stubble fields (one of them a wheat stubble on reddish loam
soil, pH 6.2, fide CDP). Compressed soil of path in cemetery,
part-shaded by young conifers. Damp soil of bank beside wet
track, almost unshaded. Associates recorded: Aloina aloides, Bryum dichotomum, Dicranella staphylina,
Dicranella varia,
Trichodon
cylindricus, Epipterygium tozeri,
Leptodictyum
riparium, Tortula
truncata, Trichostomum
brachydontium. The taxon was only recorded c.fr. with ripe
spores; capsules immature: 3, 10, ripe: 1-4, dehisced
10.
F.
'husnotii' was recorded from vc1 and vc2 before F. caespitiformis
(subsp. undet.) with purple rhizoids was recorded, as
follows:
*1: Near Kynance Cove,
1916, WEN (CGE) (Paton 1969a:
694).
*2: Cliff track on
Firebeacon Hill, near Tintagel, Sep. 1960, JAP
(BBSUK) (Paton 1961: 151, 1969a:
694).
Surprisingly for a liverwort that is common on
coasts of the Cornish mainland, F. 'husnotii' appears to
be absent from the Isles of Scilly.
Habitat notes for F. 'husnotii' in
Cornwall are as follows. Sometimes locally abundant on thin,
often compressed soil at cliff edges and on old trackways and
edges of paths high on cliffs and above sea-cliffs, unshaded
(with Archidium
alternifolium, Bryum dichotomum, Lophozia excisa, Lophozia ventricosa,
Pleurochaete
squarrosa, Riccia
sorocarpa, Riccia
subbifurca, Trichostomum
brachydontium, Weissia spp.,
sometimes Fossombronia
maritima, Riccia
crozalsii). Partly bare patches of soil on little used
pathway at edge of heathland (over serpentinite), near coast.
On partly bare, compressed, thin, humic loam soil of pathways
high on serpentinite sea-cliffs, unshaded. On gravelly and wet
clayey tracks across or beside heathland several km inland
(with Archidium
alternifolium, Fossombronia pusilla)
and inland on unshaded thin soil over quarried serpentinite on
Lizard heaths (with Archidium
alternifolium, Cephaloziella dentata,
Entosthodon
obtusus, Riccia
beyrichiana, Cladonia sp.). Usually
unshaded or only lightly shaded, but (persisting ?) on soil
over gabbro partly shaded by Grey Willow scrub at Lowland
Point (with Bryum
bornholmense, Bryum
rubens, Ephemerum
serratum s. l.,
Riccia beyrichiana,
Riccia subbifurca).
A record from several kilometres inland on flat unshaded area
of old metalliferous mine-spoil (with Cephaloziella
divaricata, Lophozia excisa, Pohlia annotina, Scapania compacta, Scapania irrigua). F. 'husnotii' is
commonly recorded c.fr.: capsules immature 1, 2, 4, 11, 12;
dehiscing 1, 2, 4, 11, 12; dehisced 4.