Ecological Notes on the Bryophytes of Middlesex

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Abstract
The bryophytic vegetation of an area in south-eastern England is described from the ecological and floristic points of view. The general features of the district are described. The most important local characteristic is the high degree of urbanisation, the effects of which on the moss vegetation are emphasized. The moss vegetation of oak-hornbeam woods is described, also that of birchwood and scrub derived from oakwood. The woodland moss vegetation is analysed into 4 strata (tree-trunks, treebases and stumps, wood-floor and woodland banks) and the characteristic types of bryophytes in each are indicated. The bryophytic vegetation of birchwoods shows some resemblance to that of heaths. The moss vegetatioin of hedges on chalk and on grassland clay soils is described. The mosses of hedges are essentially a concentrated essence of those of woodland on the same type of soil, though most of the species of the wood-floor are lacking. The flora of the chalk and clay hedges has much in common. The moss-vegetation of some relict heathland is described. The changes in the cryptogamic vegetation following the conversion of Callunetum into grass-heath are discussed. The very characteristic moss and lichen vegetation of the Callunetum has a remarkable power of persistence in small relict islands of Calluna. The flora of some bogs is described and found to include some bryophytes which are normally strictly calcicolous. The vegetation of one of the bogs shows extraordinary fluctuations. Bryophytes occur only sporadically on grassland on clay and alluvium owing to the competition of the higher plants. A number of purely cryptogamic communities are described and classified into perennial, winter ephemeral, summer ephemeral. Tables are given for each habitat of the species (with frequencies) from a number of specimen localities.

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