Dumortiera hirsuta (sw.) nees in Calabria (italy), its southernmost and highest localities in Europe, and additions to the bryophyte flora of this region

Six sites of Dumortiera hirsuta (Sw.) Nees have been recently discovered in Calabria (Southern Italy). Four of them are in very narrow base-rich granitic gorges, at ± 340 and ± 690 m in altitude; in three of these places they grow close to Woodwardia radicans (L.) Sm. ferns. The other two sites are also in base-rich granitic substrates, in an old perhumid forest of Abies alba Miller and Fagus sylvatica L., respectively at 900 and 1100 m in altitude. In the latter sites, the southernmost and highest in Europe, at ca. 1000 km south of those in the Apuan Alps, Dumortiera hirsuta always grows very close to the water, especially close to small waterfalls, sometimes forming very large mixed patches, together with Conocephalum conicum (L.) Underw., Riccardia chamedryfolia (With.) Grolle and Pellia endiviifolia (Dicks.) Dumort. It has been found with sporophytes. The ecology of the species and the origin of these disjunct sites are discussed. In addition, a list of bryophytes observed in the sites of Dumortiera hirsuta, is presented. This list includes 48 liverworts and 82 mosses, 26 species of which (19 liverworts and 7 mosses) are new for the Calabria region.