When we first started to investigate the flora of Ben Lawers some fifteen years ago we were under the impression that the commonest Pearlwort to be found was this the Alpine Pearlwort (then sensibly known as Sagina alpina). Conversations with the Warden revealed that by far the commonest is Sagina x normaniana (Scottish Pearlwort) which is the hybrid between this plant and the very common lowland Pearlwort Sagina procumbens (Procumbent Pearlwort) .
This plant, the fertile Sagina saginoides, is tufted slightly more straggly looking and does not root at the nodes like the hybrid so it takes a bit of careful work with a lens to be sure you've got the right one. As predicted there wasn't much of this to be found where we looked.
I wonder if the assigned rarity of a single R is correct for this plant - on Lawers at least this one the scarcer of the two. Perhaps Sagina x normaniana is sometimes incorrectly recorded as S. saginoides.
Ben Lawers Corrie 11th July 2005
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Added on 13th July 2005