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Literature & Resources for Moss & Liverwort Identification

Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:04 pm
by SteveMcBill
Literature & Resources for Moss & Liverwort Identification:

NB: Any links to book details are for information only, and confer no allegiance to any specific supplier. Books may be obtained from other suppliers from whom prices and availability may differ.

Literature:

Mosses and Liverworts of Britain & Ireland - A Field Guide – by Ian Atherton, Sam Bosanquet, and Mark Lawley. First published in 2010 by the British Bryological Society. 850 pages, softback. Will fit into a very large pocket, but better suited to a bag or rucksack.
Contains descriptions, colour photographs, line drawings, keys, distribution maps, etc. Generally with a page to each species, and probably the best single book available on the subject.
A flavour of the book’s content can be found here:-
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/d ... 20Text.pdf

Almost all of the content of the Mosses and Liverworts of Britain & Ireland book has been made available online, at the British Bryological Society website.
Since each species has its own downloadable PDF, this online version is not ideally suited for a "browsing" type of search, but is perfect when the species name is already known, and you want quick access to all its relevant detail and characteristics.
Note that in addition to the species accounts, some of the field keys, line illustrations galleries, and habitat details are also made available here as PDF's.

Considering this is an up-to-date, peer reviewed and widely acclaimed book on its subject, the British Bryological Society and the book's authors are to be commended. If some of the more specialist modern day fungi books were made available to everyone like this, amateur mycology would be in a better place !

There is no direct hyperlink to the specific webpage in question, but the main index page to the entire contents can be found by going to the British Bryological Society website homepage, (link below), clicking on the Resources tab, and then clicking on the BBS field Guide online button on the drop down menu.
http://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/

Here are a few links to individual PDF species pages (below), so that the book's level of species information can be seen and assessed:-
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/d ... morpha.pdf
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/d ... brosus.pdf
http://www.bbsfieldguide.org.uk/sites/d ... erinum.pdf

Some Useful Websites:

Ferns in Britain and Ireland - ferns, horsetails, clubmosses and quillworts:- http://www.ferns.rogergolding.co.uk/index.html
Andrew's Moss site:- http://www.andrewspink.nl/mosses/index.htm
British Bryological Society:- http://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/