Just as two years ago with our last pre-COVID walk, the weather was wet for our Bryophytes (Mosses and Liverworts) walk led again by Professor Jeff Duckett. Meeting by the Palm Court this year we walked straight down the steps pausing to admire the Tortula muralis with its capsules (the tall structures that contain the spores) on top of the wall.
We were informed that different bricks can contain different amounts of moisture and hence some are much more attractive to the mosses. An example given was london stock bricks which can retain 1 pint of water.
Crossing Alexandra Palace Way and heading down we paused by the large oak tree on the left. There was a large fallen branch nearby with Brachythecium rutabulum on it. We continued down the path and looked down at the tarmac with its hollows providing a haven for two Syntrichia species; S. latifolia and S. virescens.
Jeff explained that the Ash Tree is probably the best of the trees to find different mosses and nearby we saw Orthotrichum affine and Syntrichia papillosa (picture left) - the latter showing its gemma (light green dots) - assexual reproductive organs in contrast to the capsules. By this time the rain had ceased.
Walking towards The Grove we spotted three Fissidens species; F. taxifolius as well as F. bryoides and F. exilis.
Crossing the road on what was suspected to be the site of an old fire there was the moss, Funaria hygrometrica (below left) often seen on such locations.
After seeing examples of mosses on a brick (Tortula muralis and Rhynchostegium confertum), we looked at the base of a London Plane which yielded Amblystegium serpens with capsules.
Another moss located nearby was the fern-like Kindbergia praelonga. Next stop a litter bin (made of old railway sleepers) by The Grove car park which gave both Grimmia pulvinata and Bryum argenteum (picture below left). The argenteum in the name gives a nice clue to its colour.
In the patch of woodland opposite the Park Visitor Centre, we were treated to our only liverwort, Frullania dilatata.
During the walk Jeff Duckett explained that there are three distinctive types of organism that people sometimes erroneously mix together - algae, lichens (symbionts of fungi and blue-green or green algae) and the bryophytes which we were concentrating on.
There was prominent moss on one of the logs that showed its upright shoots very well, Cryphaea heteromalla (pictured bottom left).
We finished our walk almost opposite the Park Visitor Centre with a look at a dead ash branch fallen partially to ground which was festooned with mosses including Syntrichia papillosa with foliar gemmae and Orthotrichum diaphanum with capsules.
A big thank to Professor Jeff Duckett for guiding us through intriguing small world of the bryophytes.
All the pictures can be found here.
A full list of bryophytes seen in Alexandra Park
Link to the British Bryophytes Society (field guide can be ordered via the publication tab)
The report of the walk two years ago is just below.