Chapter II: The Mosses, Hepatics, and Lichens

BY J. E. BAGNALL, A.L.S.

In describing the rarer Mosses, Hepatics and Lichens, to be found within the district, the materials at command are not sufficient to admit of so minute an analysis of distribution as that given for the flowering plants in the preceding pages. For the mosses four sub-districts will be adopted: I. WARWICK, TAME; II. WARWICK, AVON; III. WORCESTER; IV. STAFFORD. For the Hepatics and Lichens, the enumeration will be restricted to Warwick only; information for Worcester and Stafford not being within reach. The nomenclature of the Mosses and Hepatics is that of the “London Catalogue of British Mosses and Hepatics,” 2nd Edit., 1881. The nomenclature of the Lichens is that of “The Lichen Flora,” of the Revd. W. A. Leighton, 1871.

MOSSES.

The Moss Flora of the whole district under review, so far as records are available, is about 272 species and varieties; that of Warwickshire alone being about 261. Its comparative poverty may be attributed, partly to the absence of great elevations, partly to the prevalence of smoke over large portions of the district, and partly to the draining of bogs and marshes, and reclamation of heath lands.

I. WARWICK, TAME.--This sub-district includes that portion of the country watered by the Tame and its affluents, the Cole, Blythe, Bourne, and Anker. The following are the more noticeable mosses.

Sphagnum fimbriatum, S. squarrosum, S. rubellum, S. papillosum,
S. cymbifolium, var. squarrosulum; Systegium crispum; *Dicranum
spurium, D. fuscescens, D. majus; Campylopus flexuosus;
Archidium phascoides; Pleuridium alternifolium; Leucobryum
glaucum; Sphærangium muticum; Pottia minutula; Trichostomum
tophaceum; Tortula aloides, T. marginata, T. rigidula, T.
spadicea, T. insulana, T. tortuosa, T. subulata, T. papillosa;
Encalypta streptocarpa; Racomitrium canescens; Zygodon
viridissimus; Ulota intermedia; Ephemerum serratum; Funaria
fasciculare; Bryum pallescens, B. roseum; Mnium rostratum,
M. stellare, M. subglobosum; Polytrichum gracile; Fissidens
adiantoides, F. exilis; Leucodon sciuroides; Amblyodon
dealbatus; Philonotis fontana; Homalia trichomanoides;
*Hedwigia ciliata; Brachythecium albicans; Eurhynchium
speciosum, E. Teesdalii; Plagiothecium sylvaticum, P. elegans,
P. latebricola; Amblestegium fluviatile; Hypnum commutatum,
H. exannulatum; H. Cossoni, H. vernicosum, H. falcatum, H.
giganteum, H. stramineum, H. revolvens.

II. WARWICK, AVON.--This sub-district includes that portion of Avon within the area, and its affluents, the Sow, Alne, and Arrow. The following are the more rare mosses:--

Sphagnum auriculatum, S. subsecundum; Gymnostomum tenue;
Dicranum montanum; D. scoparium; Campylopus pyriformis;
Pottia intermedia, P. cavifolia, var. incana; Tortula rigida,
T. ambigua, T. atro-virens, T. Brebissoni, T. lævipila, T.
intermedia, T. papillosa; Grimmia crinita; Orthotrichum
saxatile, O. stramineum, O. tenellum, O. leiocarpum, O. Lyelii,
O. rivulare; Leptobryum pyriforme; Bryum pendulum, B. murale;
Mnium undulatum; Polytrichum formosum; Fissidens Lylei, F.
incurvus, F. pusillus, F. inconstans, F. tamarindifolius;
Cryphæa heteromalla; Anomodon viticulosum; Thamnium alopecurum;
Climacium dendroides; Camptothecium lutescens; Scleropodium
cæspitosum, S. illecebrum; Brachythecium rivulare; Eurhynchium
pumilum; Rhynchostegium tenellum; Hypnum Lindbergii, H.
stellatum, H. chrysophyllum, H. cordifolium, H. splendens, H.
brevirostre, H. loreum, H. palustre.

III. WORCESTER.--The moss flora of this sub-district has not been published; but the moss herbaria of Mr. Mathews and the writer afford records of about 127 species. Many of these have already been recorded for Warwick, and are therefore omitted here. The following, which are mainly from the Stour sub-district, are the more noteworthy:--

Sphagnum auriculatum; S. cuspidatum, S. intermedium; Dicranum
scoparium; Leucobryum glaucum; Pleuridium nitidum; Pottia
Wilsoni, P. intermedia; Tortula cuneifolia, T. convoluta;
Encalypta vulgaris, E. streptocarpa; Racomitrium aciculare,
R. lanuginosum, R. fasiculare; Ptychomitrium polyphyllum;
Ulota intermedia; Orthotrichum Lyellii; Ephemerum serratum;
Physcomitrella patens; Amblyodon dealbatus; Philonotis
fontana; Leptobryum pyriforme; Bryum pendulum, B. roseum;
Mnium stellare; Aulacomnium palustre; Fissidens exilis, F.
adiantoides; Fontinalis antipyretica; Neckera crispa; Homalia
trichomanoides; Pterygophyllum lucens; Climacium dendroides;
Brachythecium populeum; Rhynchostegium murale; Hypnum
commutatum, H. palustre, H. chrysophyllum; *H. scorpioides.

IV. STAFFORD.--The record given in Garner’s Natural History of Staffordshire, of the mosses of that county, refers to localities which are all outside the area. Hence it is impossible to do more than mention the rarer species collected by myself, mostly within a ten mile radius of Birmingham, and a few additional records supplied by Dr. Fraser. They are as follows:--

Dicranella cerviculata, D. rufescens, D. crispa; Dicranum
Scoparium, D. palustre, D. majus; Pleuridium nitidum; Tortula
Hornschuchiana, T. ambigua, T. aloides; Didymodon rubellus;
Pottia lanceolata, P. intermedia, P. minutula; Ephemerum
serratum; Encalypta streptocarpa; Philonotis fontana; Bartramia
pomiformis; Webera carnea, W. annotina; Bryum pendulum, B.
atro-purpureum, B. cuspidatum; Polytrichum strictum; Fissidens
adiantoides; Tetraphis pellucida; Entosthodon fasciculare;
Brachythecium populeum, B. albicans; Eurhynchium murale,
E. Teesdalii; Plagiothecium elegans, P. undulatum; Hypnum
intermedium, H. chrysophyllum, H. vernicosum, H. giganteum.

HEPATICÆ.

The Hepaticæ and Lichens are poorly represented, and as no available record of these plants occurs, only those of the Warwickshire portion of the district will be given.

Of the Hepaticæ only about 41 species have as yet been found, the more noteworthy being:--

Fossombronia pusilla; Madotheca platyphylla; Radula complanata;
Scapania nemorosa, S. irrigua; Plagiochila nemorosa; Aplozia
crenulata, A. sphærocarpa; Gymnocolea inflata; Jungermannia
ventricosa; Cephalozia byssacea, C. Starkii, *C. curvifolia,
C. connivens; Trichocolea tomentella; Metzgeria furcata;
Aneura multifida, A. sinuata, A. pinguis; Lunularia cruciata;
Conocephalus conicus; Anthoceros punctatus, A. lævis; Riccia
glauca; Ricciella fluitans.

LICHENS.

So far as experience serves the Lichen flora of the district appears to be very limited. From Worcestershire I have seen no records except that probably exhaustive one by Mr. Edwin Lees in his “Botany and Geology of Malvern,” where we find about 240 species recorded for the Malvern district, but outside the area under notice here. For Staffordshire, Garner records about 51 species, few of which are localised, and those few are outside the area.

In Purton’s “Midland Flora,” a fair record is given of these plants for the Midland district, several of the species there recorded are, however, now either assigned to other orders as algæ or fungi, or are considered to be imperfect states of other lichens. So far as it is possible to judge from Purton’s records, and the observations of the present writer, the Lichen flora of that part of Warwickshire within the area here adopted comprises about 100 species, of which the following are some of the more noticeable:--

Collema nigrescens; Calcium trichiale, C. hyperellum, C.
trachelinum; Trachylia tympanella; Cladonia alcicornis, C.
furcata, C. rangifera, C. uncialis; Stereocaulon paschale;
Usnea hirta; Alectoria jubata; Evernia furfuracca: Ramulina
fraxinea, R. fastigiata; Cetraria aculeata; Peltigera
rufescens, P. polydactyle; Sticta pulmonacea; Parmelia
olivacea, P. caperata, P. lanata, P. perlata; Physcia ciliaris,
P. pulverulenta, P. stellaris; Pannaria pezizoides, P. nigra;
Lecanora candelaria, L. pruinosa, L. parella, L. atra, L.
sulphurea, L. ferruginea; Urceolaria scruposa; Pertusaria
communis; Phylictis agelæa; Lecidea æruginosa, L. quernea,
L. parasema, L. fusco-ater; Graphis scripta, G. serpentina;
Opegrapha atra, O. notha; Arthonia astroidea, A. Swartziana;
Verrucaria gemmata, V. epidermidis, V. nitida.