The descriptive text, below the map, is from the Cornish Red Data Book (2009). The map on this web page depicts the organisms distribution and shows the records made pre-2000 and those made since.
Range & Status
(syn. B. caespiticium var. imbricatum Bruch & Schimp., B. funckii auct. angl. non Schw\'e4gr.). Very local in Britain, from Co. Durham, Yorkshire and N. Wales southwards to S. Devon and Sussex. Elsewhere, it is widespread in Europe from S. Scandinavia southwards, in N. Africa, Near East, Middle East and also reported from U.S.A. (Nevada).
Regional Distribution
Known only from the upper parts of a sea cliff at Pentire Point East.
Habitat & Ecology
In Cornwall it grows in two small areas on unshaded, thin, loamy soil among slaty rocks just above low sea-cliffs, with other low bryophytes. Elsewhere it is most often in small open or partly bare patches in short grassland over limestone.
Threats
Encroachment of gorse and other scrub threatens the Cornish habitat, which is ungrazed except by rabbits.
Conservation
Natural England cleared developing scrub cover from the habitats of this and other rare bryophytes at Pentire Point East in spring 2007. This work will probably need to be repeated every few years.
I.J. Bennallick, S. Board, C.N. French, P.A. Gainey, C. Neil, R. Parslow, A. Spalding and P.E. Tompsett. eds. 2009. Red Data Book for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. 2nd Edition.Croceago Press.
The Cornish Red Data Book Project was led by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Federation for Biological Recorders (CISFBR). The full text and species accounts (minus the maps) are available on the CISFBR website.