 Love
on the Rocks
Botanists from the
University of Bradford, the Natural History Museum and English Nature
have discovered the rare Nowell's limestone moss (Zygodon gracilis) fruiting
for the first known time since 1866, giving them hope for the future recovery
of one of the world's most enigmatic plants.
Until this discovery
Nowell's limestone moss was thought to exist only on two old sections
of dry-stone wall in the Yorkshire Dales and had joined the endangered
species list. It was last seen reproducing in 1866 by John Nowell, a well-known
amateur botanist of the day who discovered and named the moss.
On a mission to find
and document the last remaining patches of the species in the Dales, Dr
Alistair Headley, from the University's Department of Geographical and
Environmental Science and Dr Fred Rumsey, UK Plant Diversity Researcher
at the Natural History Museum, found not only the moss but also the reason
for its near extinction.
 Alistair
said: "It is difficult at the best of times to reproduce sexually on a
drystone wall, but when your nearest partner is many kilometres away on
a different wall it is impossible to get it together.
"Although the moss
has gone from many of its nineteenth century locations it has been rewarding
to find some large populations in new locations near to Pen-y-Ghent. It
has been a great relief to find at least one cushion where the moss has
got both males and females together and it is fruiting. We have sexed
over 500 cushions to find the overwhelming majority to be female, but
finding that the two sexes are separated by several kilometres has enabled
us to pinpoint one of the reasons for its rarity and decline over the
last 100 years or so."
This work will now
enable the scientists to help restore extinct populations and reverse
the decline of this obscure, but internationally important population.
- The results of
the survey, which has been funded by English Nature, will be published
by Dr Rumsey and Dr Headley in early 2003.
10 February
2002
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