Photo
by Dr M Lueth ©.
*1: On old concrete wall, Upton
Towans, SW54, 1997, DTH, det. AJES (Rothero 2004b: 5).
*2: On the dam wall,
Crowdy Reservoir, SW18 [sic = SX18], 2000, CCT
00/160 (BBSUK) (Rothero 2001:
41).
A large majority of Cornish material of the 'S. apocarpum s. l.' checked since
1997 appears to be S.
crassipilum.
Grows in tufts or compact patches. Habitat notes
from C&S are as follows. A basiphile, almost restricted to
hard mainly calcareous masonry and rocks (commonest on
horizontal to gently inclined surfaces, but also on those that
are vertical), in unshaded or partly shaded sites
(occasionally moderately shaded, e.g. in deciduous woodland),
that vary from dry to periodically inundated (sometimes within
flood-zone of streams or rivers). Most records are from old
concrete and other masonry, with a few from natural
substrates. The many artificial sites recorded were on old
mortared-stone walls (e.g. beside roads, of bridges, a church,
mine-building ruins, reservoir dams); blocks of old masonry;
on old (and sometimes less old) concrete structures (including
walls, bridges, pipes, fence posts, cattle trough, grave
surrounds, path edge, mine structures, old airfield runway),
concrete blocks and loose debris; a slate roof; also on roofs
and fragments of asbestos-cement sheet. Fewer records from
rock were from serpentinite outcrops and blocks; granitic and
gabbro blocks and boulders on ground and occasionally in
'hedges'; granitic rock forming part of mortared walls; slaty
and granitic boulders (in streams) and on slate and shale in
old quarries. An unusual record (of s. l. species; NW. of
Reskadinnick) of few loosely rooted stems on sparsely
vegetated horizontal sand on old mining ground. Associates
frequently recorded are Bryum capillare, Bryum radiculosum, Didymodon luridus, Didymodon rigidulus,
Grimmia pulvinata,
Orthotrichum
anomalum, Rhynchostegium
confertum, Tortula
muralis (common); fewer records with Sciuro-hypnum
plumosum, Didymodon
tophaceus, Grimmia
orbicularis, Grimmia trichophylla,
Orthotrichum
affine, Orthotrichum
cupulatum, Schistidium
apocarpum.
Commonly c.fr. (and only recorded when capsules
present). Capsules immature 1-3 (4), 10-12; dehiscing 2-5;
dehisced [1, 2: old] 2-8 [9-11 old].