[NatureNS] Buxbaumia browsers

From: David & Alison Webster <dwebster@glinx.com>
To: NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Thu, 27 May 2010 09:33:01 -0300
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Dear All,            May 27, 2010
    While reviewing some 1975 plant records recently I came across a long 
forgotten remark re Buxbaumia aphylla (Flatiron Moss, for those who have 
heard of flatirons).

    The remark being-- "Of 15 setae, all but 4 had capsules missing. Does 
something eat (these) capsules ?"

    If capsules were entirely absent, in a stand of this moss, then one 
would never notice the short setae. And I recall having noticed this plant 
only twice in 60 years.

    John Erskine (An introductory moss flora of NS) observed-- They 
"...appear and disappear for years. In 1946-48 I found four stations, and in 
the nineteen years since I have not seen any."

    So the question is renewed. Does this moss develop capsules 
infrequently, does something frequently eat them before they are noticed or 
are they commonly present but overlooked ?

Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville

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