*1: Annet, Isles of
Scilly, 1861, ES (TRU) (Paton 1969a:
742).
*2: Halgavor Moor near
Bodmin, 1900, RVT (B) (Paton 1969a:
742).
Grows as small tufts or cushions, or increases to
form extensive and rather dense patches. Notes on habitats in
C&S are as follows. Generally much commoner near coasts
than inland, apparently because it tolerates salt-spray better
than most epiphytes or saxicolous mosses, becoming
comparatively much scarcer and usually occurring only in small
quantity far inland, especially in vc2. Occurs mainly as an
epiphyte over most of Cornwall
where much less common on rocks or masonry, but common on
rocks on exposed coasts of the Isles of Scilly and Land's End
peninsula.
Epiphytic on bark of shrubs and trees of many kinds
including Alder, Apple, Ash, Grey Willow, Elder, elms, Gorse,
Hawthorn, Hazel, Pedunculate Oak, Sessile Oak, Sycamore, less
often hybrid poplar, Holm Oak; a few records on Blackthorn,
two on Garden Privet, one each on Broom, Cortaderia, Cotoneaster (tree), Euonymus japonicus (St
Mary's), Honeysuckle, ivy (itself an epiphyte), Picea abies (dead
twigs), Pinus
contorta, Pittosporum
crassifolium (which mainly lacks epiphytes), Silver Birch,
Sitka Spruce, Styrax
hemslyana (Trengwainton Gardens), Sweet Chestnut,
Tamarisk, Tilia
×vulgaris, White Willow. Grows in wide range of situations
where there are shrubs or trees, including scrub, woodland and
its edges, Grey Willow carr, isolated trees, and in groves or
scrub above sea-cliffs. Often very common and the predominant
epiphyte on bark of branches and upper trunks in exposed
coastal locations, where it is the commonest of the
Orthotrichaceae and occurs on many types of trees including
oaks, apparently without any strong preferences for different
phorophyte species. Also occurs on twigs in humid sites.
Further inland it generally occurs in smaller amounts and is
more restricted to bark that is nutrient-rich (e.g. of Elder,
Sycamore), or of moderate nutrient-status (Grey Willow),
occurring less often on oaks. Inland it also shows a clear
preference for horizontal or inclined trunks and branches to
those that are vertical, and avoids heavy shade. Frequent on
bark within flood-zone of R. Tamar, several times seen within
inundation-zone of streams, and also occurs in upper part of
inundation zones beside reservoirs.
Records from rocks mainly on granitic types but
also on gabbro, serpentinite and slates. Often on very exposed
rocks on coasts (e.g. in open on top of sea-cliffs) as well as
in sheltered sites, but inland occurrences on rocks are mostly
in humid, sheltered places (e.g. streamsides under trees,
grave surrounds shaded by churchyard trees, on partly shaded
stone gateposts), but also e.g. on boulders at edge of pasture
inland, under incomplete cover of trees, or near tors.
Occasionally seen on masonry, including dry-stone walls, rocks
in 'hedges' and once the mortared-stone wall of a bridge.
Atypical records (each of them of a single small patch) on
unshaded edge of tarmac of track across coastal heath and on
soil in arable field (latter fide CDP). An unusual
record of substantial patches on thick roots exposed in
remains of Armeria
maritima tussocks on lip of steep, low bank on slope above
sea-cliffs, unshaded but N.-facing (W. of Sennen
Cove).
Common associates when growing as epiphyte include
Cololejeunea
minutissima, Cryphaea heteromalla,
Frullania dilatata,
Hypnum andoi, Hypnum cupressiforme
var. resupinatum,
Metzgeria violacea,
Metzgeria furcata,
Neckera pumila, Orthotrichum affine,
Orthotrichum
diaphanum, Orthotrichum
pulchellum, Orthotrichum tenellum,
Ulota bruchii, Ulota crispa, Zygodon conoideus, Zygodon viridissimus
var. viridissimus,
others include
Microlejeunea ulicina, Orthotrichum lyellii,
Syntrichia
laevipila, rarely Syntrichia papillosa.
Associates on rock include Hypnum cupressiforme
var. resupinatum
and Ramalina and
other lichens.
Gemmae at tips of leaves usually present (although
perhaps lost seasonally, or in heavy rain) (none seen 7, 9,
11, 12; very immature gemmae on almost concealed leaf tips 1,
11, 12; exposed obvious gemmae 1-7, 12; many gemmae lost
already 2, 5, 6, 8-11). Not seen cfr; sporophytes unrecorded
in Cornwall and very rare
throughout British Isles
(M.C.F. Proctor in Hill et al. 1994:
206).
