*1: Newlyn, 1864, WC
(PNZ) (Paton 1969a:
736).
*2: Near St Breward,
1897, RVT (B) (Paton 1969a:
736).
Notes on habitats in C&S are as follows. Thin
or deeper soil (or sand) on tracks, paths, roadsides, in
gardens, crevices of little-used tarmac (or edges of minor
roads), edges of gravel car parks, unshaded to partly shaded
(commonly with Bryum
dichotomum, Bryum
capillare,
Ceratodon purpureus, Dicranella
staphylina,
Didymodon nicholsonii, Trichodon
cylindricus, rarely Fossombronia
incurva, Philonotis
fontana, Riccia
sorocarpa). Occasional in arable fields (barley stubble,
flax), but usually in small amounts. Bank of ditch. Thin soil
in crevices of unshaded concrete debris. Frequently with other
mosses on thin 'soil' accumulation on unshaded horizontal
concrete, asbestos-cement and tarmac, e.g. of little-used old
tracks and road edges (with Bryum dichotomum, Ceratodon
purpureus,
Didymodon nicholsonii). Thin soil over old timber, e.g. of
steps of railway bridge. Sometimes on old copper mine spoil
where apparently contaminated with copper. Soil heaps and
dumped soil near china clay quarries, locally on china clay
spoil, unshaded. Soil on paths on slopes above sea-cliffs,
unshaded and rather exposed; associates Acaulon muticum, Bryum dichotomum, Ceratodon
purpureus, Bryum
dichotomum, Tortula
truncata.
In small amounts on soil or firm clay exposed in
inundation zones beside reservoirs, unshaded. Sometimes
plentiful on open bonfire sites with Funaria hygrometrica,
e.g. in heathland. On asbestos-cement roof with Orthotrichum anomalum.
Common associates include Bryum dichotomum, Bryum capillare, Ceratodon purpureus,
sometimes Didymodon
nicholsonii, rarely with many others (e.g. Didymodon
tomaculosus). Occasionally growing directly on rock of
granitic boulders, in apparently eutrophicated
areas.
Commonly reproduces vegetatively by means of
axillary bulbils. Occasionally/frequently c.fr. (usually in
sites where it has grown undisturbed for a year or two):
capsules immature 2, 8-12; dehiscing 11;
dehisced.