For the last decade, Allan Pentecost been surveying the cryptogam flora (lichens, bryophytes, ferns) of the Coniston Limestone (now Dent Group) in the English Lake District. This is a narrow belt of limestone that divides the volcanic rocks of the high Lakeland fells from the softer Silurian rocks to the south.
Allan’s paper has just appeared in the Carlisle Natural History Society publication “Lakeland Naturalist”. It shows that the Coniston Limestone has an exceptionally rich cryptogam flora, owing to its varied lithology and complex surfaces, resulting from differential weathering.
Available to download here with permission from Allan Pentecost and Carlisle Natural History Society.
Pentecost, A. (2021). A cryptogam flora of the Coniston Limestone (now Dent Group) in the English Lake District. Lakeland Naturalist 9(1): 16-29.