*1: Woodland bank,
Castle Horneck, near Penzance, 1961, JAP
(BBSUK) (Paton 1965b: 782, 1969a: 713,
Warburg 1966: 191).
*2: Bank above stream
in wooded valley, near Lesnewth, Boscastle, 1961, JAP
(BBSUK) (Paton 1965b: 782, 1969a: 713,
Warburg 1966: 191). [Holotype of the species was from Hustyn
Wood, St Breock near Wadebridge, shaded bank above stream,
1963, JAP (OXF): Paton 1965b:
782].
Grows as scattered stems or sparse open lawns;
unlike most congeners it never forms closed lawns or tufts.
Habitat notes from Cornwall are as follows. Often intermixed
with other small bryophytes, on mainly bare to partly bare
soil (circumneutral to moderately acidic, loamy or clayey),
usually on inclined to vertical surfaces that are
free-draining and often somewhat eroded. Grows in sheltered
and often humid situations, in light to moderate shade (of
deciduous trees or less often conifers or Rhododendron). Mostly
found on banks in deciduous woodland, often on woodland
stream, trackside (including wheel ruts in conifer plantation)
or river banks, also laneside banks, less often on flat
horizontal soil of woodland tracks. Frequently on nearly bare
soil at edge of badgers' pathways down banks. Associates
recorded include Calypogeia arguta, Dicranella
heteromalla, Diplophyllum albicans,
Epipterygium
tozeri, Fissidens
bryoides var.
bryoides, Pohlia
lutescens, Pseudotaxiphyllum
elegans. A few plants found once on small patch of mainly
bare soil in pasture on hillslope not far from woodland edge
(with Anthoceros
punctatus).
Only female plants known, so sporophytes unknown.
It is uncertain how this species
disperses.