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How many species of Bryophytes are there in Britain?

Dr M has previously posted about the number of vascular plants in Britain.  In addition to vascular plants are the so-called lower plants or cryptogams including the Mosses, Liverworts and Algae.

As far as the Bryophytes go (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) there are approximately 1034 native species in the UK:

Mosses   746
Liverworts   284
Hornworts      4
Total  1034

Dr  is particularly fond of bryophytes and the image above is of the beautiful  golden-green coloured Screw-moss (Syntrichia ruralis) a common moss in the urban environment here growing atop concrete bollards in the Chemistry car park at the University of Reading.

Dr M is planning more posts on marvellous mosses and lovely liverworts, watch this space for the urban bryology pub crawl coming before too long!

Sources:

The checklist of bryophytes is maintained by the British Bryological Society, who also make it available to the National Biodiversity Network Species Dictionary .

 

 

 

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