THE BRYOPHYTES OF CORNWALL
AND THE ISLES OF SCILLY

Scapania compacta (A.Roth) Dumort. S12

Mediterranean-Atlantic Suboceanic element.

Photo by Dr M Lueth ©.

*1: Chyenhal, Newlyn, 1860, WC (MANCH) (Paton 1969a: 705).

*2: Sawmills, Fowey, 1906, RWS (TRU) (Paton 1969a: 705).

Habitat notes from C&S are as follows. Unshaded to lightly shaded, acid soil on path edges, track edges, banks and slopes, thin soil over and among granite rocks and on tops and ledges of walls and 'hedges'; often on rocky hilltops, on coastal heaths or in exposed places on or above sea-cliffs (associates include Archidium alternifolium, Ceratodon purpureus, Lophozia ventricosa, Nardia scalaris, Polytrichum juniperinum, Polytrichum piliferum, Saccogyna viticulosa, Conocephalum conicum). On soil of banks about old granite quarries, often common, forming pure patches, associates include Ceratodon purpureus, Nardia scalaris, once Lophocolea bispinosa. In small quantity on mosses on vertical, S.-facing granite rock in quarry, unshaded. Often on old copper mine spoil and frequently where heavily copper contaminated, forming small or larger pure patches in unshaded spots on horizontal to sloping substrates, inland and on coasts, including tops of exposed sea-cliffs; common associates Cephaloziella divaricata, Cephaloziella stellulifera, Ceratodon purpureus, Diplophyllum albicans, Gymnocolea inflata, Solenostoma gracillimum, Nardia scalaris, Pohlia annotina; others recorded are Archidium alternifolium, Lophozia excisa, Lophozia ventricosa, Saccogyna viticulosa, Scapania nemorea. Colonist on clay soil of banks, track edges, mica dam edges, etc. in and around old and working china clay quarries, commonly forming pure patches, unshaded. Thin soil in crevice in old retaining wall, almost unshaded. With Nardia compressa on damp granitic rock in Cornish hedge/bank. With other bryophytes on top of large unshaded granitic boulders in river.