Stalking the Wild Ephemerum

Around five years ago I was mucking around the margins of a two-foot wide dried out puddle in Nanoose and got excited about some sprigs I didn't recognize. I never figured them out, but when I brought the little patch of silty soil home, it had tiny tiny tiny little sporophytes of the genus Ephemerum. In the years since, I have actively looked for this somewhat aimlessly. A few years ago, @terrymcintosh pointed out that the very fine felts that surrounded riverbank Riccia along the Fraser and into the interior was in fact protonema of Ephemerum spinulosum. Then last week, @bstarzomski was ferreting Riccia here on Vancouver Island when he noticed a similair felt of protonema that could have just as easily been algae. Feeling the need for bryological speed, I mucked around Riccia habitat yesterday and was seeing the same felts with characteristic dichotomous branching. Then, looking on similair silty sediments in semi-shaded habitat, the sporophytes appeared. Now looking back at my observations of this genus, I see they are all from the early fall on Vancouver Island. Perhaps this is the window.

So, if you know Riccia habitat, you might expect Ephemerum nearby. Look for seasonally saturated, frequently disturbed, Nostoc-rich silts and muds. The scale is miniscule (sub mm). Herbarium records have it on boulevards in Vancouver (March), urban parks in Victoria's James Bay (December and March), and near Kamloops along the banks of a river (September). It would be interesting to kick up more records of this as there are few in the region (six in BC, none in Washington State, then a scattering around Corvallis and Eugene). I think other associated bryos might be Tortula truncata and Bryum/Gemmabryum barnesii, both of which like the same fine, seasonally saturated and disturbed sediments as Riccia.

Included below are some TG-6 photos from the last few days if you need a search image. Photo 1 is the "felt" of protonema (and microscopic stuff in the observation). Photo 2 shows sporophytes amongst the felt with a few leaves (and microscopic stuff in the observation). Photo 3 shows the characteristic seasonally saturated fine mineral soil with nostoc and the "felt" of protonema.

Posted on September 30, 2024 04:58 PM by