mollyopsis's Favorites

We thought this huge polytrichum with 12mm long leaves and 10cm long stems might be P. commune but a cross section revealed no "C" shaped cells. Further investigation has pointed towards P. formosum. The lamellae are in about 30 rows and are 4-5 cells high. The cells of the margin (the teeth) extend 3 rows out from the lammelae. The cells in the teeth are about 8um wide.

This was growing in a very moist shady area. There were sporophytes present and I really wish I had collected one to see if it was sulcate.. but there were so few sporophytes that it did not feel right to collect them.

Rufous-backed cellophane bees (Colletes thoracicus) nesting aggregation, along my driveway, May 2023.

Photos:

1. Individual (female?) which had just emerged from the adjacent hole.
2. A single nest entrance. Holes are the diameter of a standard pencil.
3. & 4: Wider shots to show the density of the aggregation. There are over a dozen nest entrances within the bounds of these photos.

I've observed this population in my garden for 16 years, since 2008. This is just one small section of the area in which they nest along my driveway.

• Leaves laciniate with large teeth
• Leaf lobes with arched-sigmoid distal margins

• Petioles winged
• Midrib green-reddish
• Capitulum ~4cm across, pollen present
• Exterior involucral bracts corniculate, ~2-3mm wide by ~9-10mm long, suffused red/purple, with hyaline margins.
• Achenes light chestnut colored.

ID confirmed by Curtis Randall Björk & Hans Rydberg.

Relevant information:
• Zámečník, Jaroslav. (2018). Rozšíření pampelišky osténkaté – Taraxacum disseminatum (sect. Erythrosperma) v České republice (Poznámky k rodu Taraxacum v České republice. I.). Distribution of Taraxacum disseminatum (sect. Erythrosperma) in the Czech Republic (Notes on the genus Taraxacum in the Czech Republic. I.). 36. 67-74.
• Curtis R. Björk. Overlooked diversity in exotic Taraxacum in British Columbia, Canada. Botany. 97(6): 329-346. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjb-2018-0094
• https://www.gbif.org/species/5393875

AC1-19.001