Ptilidium pulcherrimum Tree Fringewort

A dioicous leafy liverwort which usually grows on the branches and trunks of trees, particularly willows and birch, but is occasionally found growing on rock. It closely resembles a small version of Ptilidium ciliare, which is not epiphytic, but it is much rarer. It is a Boreal-montane species which has a scattered distribution in Britain but it seems to have been lost from many of its historic sites as a result of atmospheric pollution, from which it may be making a slow recovery. Some evidence suggests that its spores may be capable of long distance dispersal from populations in northern Europe and possibly even from North America. It is uncommon in Wales and it is very rare in West Glamorgan where it was recorded by several individuals in the Pyrddin Valley in the upper Vale of Neath in the 1960, 1970s and 1980s. It was last recorded there by Ray Woods in 1986, but has not be seen there in more recent decades. Sporophytes are very rare.