Tuesday 29 January 2013

Welsh Bristle-moss: New species found near Dryslwyn Castle


A new species of moss has been found growing on 10 maple trees in a Carmarthenshire car park, but experts are in two minds about its origins.

Welsh Bristle-moss was discovered near Dryslwyn Castle, close to Llandeilo, by the Countryside Council for Wales.

It said it might have evolved from a genetically similar moss.

But it could be an undiscovered species that was imported from the Continent on maples used to landscape the car park in the 1990s.

There are about 900 species of moss in Britain and 587 of those are found in Wales.

The Welsh Bristle-moss was discovered during a survey which is recording mosses growing on trees in south Wales.

This is a high-point in our regular work of recording mosses which grow on trees in south Wales”, Sam Bosanquet CCW moss ecologist

Experts said the moss had a unique combination of distinctive traits. It differed from related mosses because of its round-tipped leaf tips and flat leaf edges

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