Brachythecium rutabulum (Hedw.) Schimp.

Schäfer-VERwIMP, Alfons & VERwIMP, Inge, 2019, On a bryophyte collection from the Maltese Islands, Cryptogamie, Bryologie 20 (4), pp. 19-29 : 24

Brachythecium rutabulum (Hedw.) Schimp.

REMARKS

We visited the two localities from where Frahm & Lüth (2008) cited this species but could not relocate it there; at both localities there have been seen abundant Rhynchostegium megapolitanum (sometimes growing very similar to B. rutabulum but occasionally with smooth seta which readily excludes the latter). A re-examination of the two specimens cited in Frahm & Lüth (2008) by M. Lüth revealed that both in fact belong to R. megapolitanum . Another specimen cited by Gradstein (1972) has been re-examined and renamed as R. megapolitanum by H. Siebel. Further specimens from Malta have not been seen though it was cited from there also by Bottini (1907), Sommier & Caruano Gatto (1915) (both in sterile condition), and Mifsud (2012).