*1: Sunset, Kea near Truro,
1839, EAW (TRU)
(Paton 1969a: 754).
*2: Trevathan St Endellion,
1892, RVT (B)
(Paton 1969a: 754).
Difficult to distinguish from the much commoner H. andoi except when
rostrate rather than conical lid of capsule seen. Very slender
non-fertile plants were recorded as H. andoi in the field,
but more robust non-fertile material was only recorded as H. cupressiforme s. str. when cell size
checked in several stem leaves was mainly >50 µm long, when it was
mainly shorter plant was recorded as H. andoi, but numerous
variable or intermediate gatherings were nevertheless not
recorded as either.
Robust forms also provide a series of apparent
intermediates with H.cupressiforme var.
lacunosum, such that
really intermediate material was recorded as neither of them.
Thus, H. cupressiforme var. cupressiforme was
doubtless somewhat under-recorded. There anyway still seems
good reason to doubt whether lacunosum represents
anything more than a robust form of H. cupressiforme var. cupressiforme,
unworthy of any taxonomic recognition.
Forms mats. Habitat notes in C&S are as
follows. Often appears to be more of a calciphile than H. andoi, with records
on sides or tops of old mortared walls (stone, less often
brick, e.g. in churchyards) and on old concrete of walls and
ruins, on gabbro boulders near coast, unshaded to part shaded.
However, fewer records are from apparently acidic sites.
Habitats recorded include: On unshaded granitic boulders in
pastures, top of large granite block part-shaded in river, on
boulders of granite in top edge of inundation-zone beside
Siblyback Lake, acid walls. On unshaded granite boulders in
china clay spoil and near quarries. On slaty rocks of unshaded
'scree' in old quarry. Also acid grassland slopes, a grassy
heathland edge and bark of an oak tree. On grave in
churchyard. Also on 'hedges', on masonry debris near ruin.
Once as epiphyte on Cortaderia trunk with
other mosses.
Associates recorded include Isothecium myosuroides
var.
myosuroides,
Plagiochila porelloides, Racomitrium
aciculare.
Frequently c.fr.: capsules immature 1-3, 10-12;
dehiscing 1-3, 10; dehisced 1, 3,
4.
