The Nordic Bryological Society held its Annual meeting and excursion from 5 to 9 August 2019 in Sodankylä, Kittilä and Kolari in northern Finland. The excursion was attended by twenty-one participants. Special emphasis was given to boreal aapa mires and their Sphagnum species. A multitude of Sphagnum species typical to the area was encountered. Also, Red Listed species of meso- and eutrophic flark fens were discovered, e.g. Hamatocaulis vernicosus, H. lapponicus, Meesia longiseta, Schistochilopsis grandiretis and Moerckia flotoviana. Sphagnum annulatum, S. flexuosum, S. divinum, Heterogemma laxa and Scapania umbrosa were collected for the first time from Kittilän Lappi biogeographical province. Sphagnum annulatum, S. divinum, Campylium laxifolium, Pohlia sphagnicola, Gymnocolea borealis and Heterogemma laxa were collected for the first time from Sompion Lappi biogeographical province. In total, 54 records of Red Listed species were made.

We describe Sphagnum magniporosum sp. nov. in Sphagnum subgen. Subsecunda (Sphagnaceae) Bryophyta. The new species is described and characterized using morphological methods. The description is based on qualitative examination of morphological characters of shoots, stems, branches and leaves. The new peatmoss is known from a single locality at a tabletop (tepui) mountain in the Chimantá Massif, Canima National Park in the state Bolívar of Venezuela. The morphology of the species is compared and evaluated using keys, descriptions and illustrations of ten South American and one African Subsecunda species.

Encalypta vulgaris is well known for its wide morphological variation, here we study morphological and genetic variation of E. vulgaris in Scandinavia and compare this with the closely related E. rhaptocarpa and the morphologically similar E. mutica. Our morphological and genetic results indicate that Scandinavian plants of E. vulgaris s.l. includes two taxa, E. vulgaris s.s. and a new species here described as E. driva. The two species differ genetically by plastid markers while the included nuclear markers do not differentiate between the two. Morphologically they can be separated both by gametophytic and sporophytic characters. We also clarify the distinction between E. mutica and the newly described E. driva which have been confused in Scandinavia.

As a result of lichenological fieldwork in Mawat and Gapelon locations in the northeast of Iraq, a total of 22 lichens were identified from nine different localities. Acarospora epiaspicilia, Acarospora murorum, Aspicilia contorta subsp. hoffmanniana, Caloplaca saxicola, Caloplaca xantholyta, Caloplaca oblongula , Candelariella coralliza, Immersaria cupreoatra, Immersaria usbekica, Lecaimmeria qinghaiensis, Lecania polycycla, Lecanora gangaleoides, Lepraria membranacea, Lobothallia radiosa, Lobothallia recedens, Parvoplaca tiroliensis, Physcia stellaris, Physconia grisea subsp. algeriensis, Rinodina ascociscana, Rinodina calcarea, Rinodina oleae, Tephromela atra var. calcarea were reported for the first time from Iraq. The substrata and their collecting localities of the newly recorded lichens are presented.

We here clarify that currently there are no records of the Asiatic Schistidium subconfertum (Broth.) Deguchi in Europe. The only European specimen referred to this species represents S. succulentum Ignatova & H.H. Blom, a taxon rather recently described from Caucasus. Furthermore, we provide new records of the latter species in the French and Swiss Alps. The two species share a reduced peristome, but can be distinguished by characteristics of the gametophyte such as lamina thickness (unistratous in S. subconfertum versus partially bistratous in S. succulentum) and shallowly versus strongly projecting costa.

Riccardia fuscovirens Lindb. is lectotypified and the lectotype is described. It is morphologically very similar to Aneura pinguis and provisionally regarded as synonym to it.

Lophozia lantratrovae is reported for the first time from Europe outside northern Caucasus. It is found in several places in central Norway, in wet places in pre- to subalpine areas.

Isothecium algarvicum W.E.Nicholson & Dixon was discovered in Tunisia, which constitutes the first report of this Macaronesian-oceanic species in Africa. Three distinct populations were observed in ravines in the humid Meso-Mediterranean vegetation belt of Kroumiria. The Tunisian material is fully described, with particular attention to alar and supra-alar cells, prorate cells and other morphological characteristics. The density and size of the prorate cells appear to be a robust diagnostic characteristic for the separation of Isothecium algarvicum, I. alopecuroides and I. myosuroides. Detailed analysis of the forest habitat reveals a uniquely rich environment. The origin of a possibly relict species with Macaronesian-oceanic affinities is discussed.