Brian O’Shea was a son of Yorkshire, born in Sheffield on 15 October 1943, and was to become one of the most energetic and productive bryologists of his generation. Early in life he came to London, where he pursued his higher education. In 1986, this culminated in his being awarded an M.Sc. in computer science from Birkbeck College, and in March of that year he began his life’s professional career with British Telecommunications plc (BT). He undertook for BT various roles associated with commercial computer project development and management until his early retirement in 1994.
Outside of his professional career, Brian had a keen and active interest in bryophytes and was a member of the British Bryological Society (BBS) for more than half a century, having joined in 1963. Post retirement, apart from occasional computer-related consultancies, Brian turned his attention to bryology almost full time. In June 1999, he became a scientific associate at the Natural History Museum, working with the bryophyte collections. Here, he enthusiastically assisted in curatorial matters, from databasing the undigitised bryophyte collections to preparing newly acquired material for incorporation into the British Museum (BM) herbarium. Most recently, while coping with deteriorating health, he processed several thousand specimens donated to BM by the now late Rod Stern, and consequently Rod’s enormous personal herbarium was secured and made accessible to researchers around the globe.
Over his bryological career, including during his association with BM, Brian authored more than 145 publications (Appendix 1), both as sole author and in collaboration with other worthy bryologists such as Howard Matcham and the now sadly late Martin Wigginton, Benito Tan and Jan-Peter Frahm. His especially significant collaboration with Martin Wigginton on the African bryoflora is commemorated in a photograph of Martin and Brian that can be found in Martin's own obituary (Hodgetts, Citation2020). As well as working with fellow veteran researchers, Brian was keen to involve the less experienced in the arts and science of bryology; to this end, he participated in society workshops and authored useful guidance manuals for beginners.
Brian, a committed vegetarian, was of a benevolent, calm disposition and enthusiastically sociable. With museum colleagues, he welcomed and entertained members of the international bryological community visiting London and BM, happy to enjoy a glass of wine and evening meal with these many friends from around the globe. His hospitality was often reciprocated when he shared bryological adventures hosted in the visitors’ home countries. In the final few years of his life, ill health, which compromised his powers of memory, kept him away from the museum, and his subsequent death has left a large gap in the life and activities of the BM bryophyte herbarium.
Contributions to bryology
Brian’s bryological profile begins in 1963, when he joined the BBS. He spent three periods on the BBS Council (1969–1971, 1976–1979, 1995–1996) and between 1983 and 1988 acted as Honorary Treasurer and Executive Member for the Society. With interests beyond the bryoflora of the British Isles, and as a member of the International Association of Bryologists (1972–2019), he helped to found the BBS Tropical Bryology Group and was its Coordinator from 1990 to 2002.
Brian initiated projects, produced publications, and organised and participated in events to promote the study of tropical bryophytes. His interests were truly pantropical; he was a long-standing member of Sociedad Latinoamericana de Briología (1987 onwards) and latterly published articles on the mosses of Venezuela, Paraguay (with M. J. Price) and Bermuda. However, he will perhaps be mostly remembered as a respected researcher on the bryophytes of the Old World Tropics, and his major achievements focused on the bryoflora of sub-Saharan Africa. He co-edited the Guide to Bryophytes of sub-Saharan Africa (GBAonline: https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Guide-to-Bryophytes-of-sub-Saharan-Africa.pdf), an online account of the sub-Saharan bryoflora to genus level. This was a project managed jointly by Brian (mosses) and M. J. Wigginton (hepatics) on behalf of the BBS Tropical Bryology Group. From 1997 until 2006, he produced five updated versions of the African moss checklist, the later editions made available both online and in print (as Tropical Bryology Research Reports). In the latter series, his comprehensive summary of taxa in the moss family Calymperaceae remains an essential aid to the taxonomic research of the present author. Much of Brian’s own taxonomic and floristic research grew out of involvement with the African and Asian bryofloras, while investigating relatively less well-understood groups such as various genera in the moss family Sematophyllaceae.
International contributions
As well as sharing his expertise locally, presenting papers at the BBS annual general meeting and BBS symposium meetings (1991, 1994, 1996, 2001), Brian contributed to significant international botanical conferences (Appendix 2). He was a joint organiser of the symposium Moss diversity: a global view at the International Botanical Congress, St Louis, USA, 1999, and of the symposium Biogeography of the mosses of the Indian sub-continent at Lucknow, India, 2002. At other international meetings, he presented papers on the bryofloras of sub-Saharan Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and bryology in the digital age (see Appendix 2).
A bryologist with global experience, Brian undertook a range of editorial commitments in support of bryological research, mostly covering digital aspects of bryology and the taxonomy and floristics of tropical African bryophytes:
co-editor (with Prof. J.-P. Frahm, Bonn, Germany), computer techniques column in The Bryological Times (1985–1997)
technical assistance editor, Tropical Bryology (1989–1999)
editorial board member, Tropical Bryology, with responsibility for bryological contributions concerning tropical Africa (1999 onwards)
joint editor, with M. J. Wigginton, of the Guide to Bryophytes of sub-Saharan Africa (GBAonline), a flora to genus level of the bryophytes of sub-Saharan Africa, on behalf of the Tropical Bryology Group
editorial board member (editor for mosses) of Mosses and Liverworts of Uganda.
Fieldwork
Brian collected and studied bryophytes throughout the UK and around the world. The list of bryological excursions in his curriculum vitae include travels in Finland, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain (including Mallorca and Tenerife), Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Malawi, South Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, Tobago, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Cook Islands and New Zealand. Particularly interested in bryophytes of the African tropics, he was a member of the BBS Tropical Bryology Group expeditions to Mount Mulanje, Malawi, 1991, and Uganda, 1997. He played a major part in organising these ventures and in coordinating the post-expedition development and distribution of the bryophyte collections. Importantly, he encouraged and helped facilitate collaboration with aspiring (albeit rare) local African bryologists.
In the following personal recollection, Nick Hodgetts remembers Brian as a companion in the field (during the BBS expeditions to Malawi and Uganda):
Brian’s calm and relaxed presence was essential during the BBS expeditions to Malawi and Uganda, and his considerable travel experience was always an asset in dealing with any issues that came up. I remember coming to the top of the exhaustingly steep ascent to the Mulanje Plateau, and there was Brian appearing out of the bush – he had climbed up earlier – and it was so good to see his cheerful face welcoming us after a hard day’s climb. He was, of course, busy collecting bryophytes, which he did at least as assiduously as the rest of us, and certainly with a lot more field expertise than me. As well as collecting, Brian took more than his fair share of responsibility in dealing with the inevitable bureaucracy that these trips entailed. Halfway through one of the Uganda trips, he broke off fieldwork to return (with Martin Wigginton) to Kampala because the authorities required another meeting.
As mentioned earlier, Brian undertook bryological travels through many countries, both temperate and tropical, and his world-encompassing collections are now preserved in the bryophyte herbarium of the Natural History Museum, London (BM).
Digital contributions
Brian was a significant player in the move of bryology into the digital age. Most of his earlier publications dealt with botanical applications of computer software. In 1988, he contributed to a BBS Workshop in Bristol on computer techniques in bryology (Hackney Citation1989). Brian developed and supported the BBS Internet World Wide Web site until the introduction of a new version in June 2003, and thereafter continued to maintain the Tropical Bryology Group web site, via which more than 70 documents and a set of identification keys have been made available, and to support the Tropical Bryology (https://tropical-bryology.org) and GBAonline web sites.
He was the author of TAXA, a computer software program that automated many aspects of botanical activity, including the recording and analysis of collections and herbarium accessions, mapping, distribution, taxonomic work, and publishing of results. This software was used by some members of the BBS Malawi and Uganda expeditions, and also in BM, to manage the copious bryophyte collections of A. H. Norkett (Seychelles, 1973). The system was also used to record the distribution of tropical bryophytes, and it provided the data for Brian’s checklist of African mosses. It could also be used for local recording (e.g. for county floras).
Extra-bryological interests
Outside of his bryological pursuits, Brian was something of an athlete. A member of his local running club, he participated in many long-distance events, even including a race in St Louis, Missouri, while attending the International Botanical Congress at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in 1999. In more recent times, he frequently enjoyed long-distance bike rides with his local cycling club. His passion for running and cycling was expressed on T-shirts referencing sporting events, which he wore in the tropical heat of his 1997 expedition to Uganda ( and ).
Figure 1. Brian O’Shea on the British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Expedition to Uganda, 1997, consulting a book on the local avifauna. Photograph: Ron Porley.
Regarding his less physically demanding hobbies, Brian was an avid reader of fiction. Even latterly, as his powers of memory declined, he was often to be found, during lunch breaks at the Natural History Museum, deeply engrossed in his latest literary acquisition.
Sadly, increasingly poor health finally caught up with this athletic, energetic and humane bryologist. He died on 29 May 2019, leaving behind his wife, Stephanie; two daughters, Alice and Jessie; grandchildren; and a world of friends and respectful colleagues.
Figure 2. Brian O’Shea (left) with Nick Hodgetts at Masindi market on the British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Expedition to Uganda, 1997. Photograph: Ron Porley.
Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Nick Hodgetts for contributing his reminiscence of Brian on the BBS expeditions to Malawi and Uganda, and to Ron Porley, another of Brian’s companions in the African tropics, for providing the images of Brian reproduced herein.
References
Appendix 1
Publications by Brian O’Shea
1969
O’Shea BJ. 1969. The Summer Meeting, 1968 – Dingwall. Transactions of the British Bryological Society. 5(4):898–900.
1971
O’Shea BJ. 1971. A rare moss at Damflask Reservoir. Sorby Record. 3(2):5–6.
O’Shea BJ. 1971. Physcomitrium sphaericum (Schkuhr) Brid. and Physcomitrium eurystomum Sendtn. In: Distribution maps of bryophytes in Britain. Transactions of the British Bryological Society. 6(2):349.
O’Shea BJ. 1971. The occurrence of the moss Physcomitrium sphaericum (Schkuhr) Brid. in Yorkshire. The Naturalist. 917:65–66.
1975
O’Shea BJ. 1975. Buxbaumia aphylla Hedw. In: Distribution maps of bryophytes in Britain. Journal of Bryology. 8(4):497.
1978
O’Shea BJ. 1978. Cinclidotus mucronatus (Brid.) Mach. In: Smith AJE, editor. Provisional atlas of the bryophytes of the British Isles. Natural Environment Research Council.
1984
O’Shea BJ. 1984. Bryological journals in print. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 44:34–39.
O’Shea BJ. 1984. Utility of bibliographies – ter. Bryological Times. 29:4.
1985
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1985. Editorial – Computer Techniques Column. Bryological Times. 30:4.
O’Shea BJ. 1985. Bryological societies and working groups. Bryological Times. 31:7–8.
1986
O’Shea BJ. 1986. An application of expert systems to botanical identification [M.Sc. project report]. London: Birkbeck College.
O’Shea BJ. 1986. Review: GIOS (Graphical Input and Output of Structures). Bryological Times. 36:1.
O’Shea BJ. 1986. Review: Microcomputers in Biology: a practical approach. Bryological Times. 39:4.
1987
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1987. Software Service: free software for bryologists. Bryological Times. 42:5–6.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1987. Computer survey. Bryological Times. 43:9–10.
1988
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. Editorial – Computer Techniques Supplement. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:1.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. IAB Software Library, version 2.5. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:1–4.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. IAB computer user’s survey – results. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:4.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. Computerised illustrations with a scanner. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:7–8.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. The use of purchasable software for bryology, II. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:10–11.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. Software test – word processors. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:11–13.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1988. Software packages in bryology. p. 1–24 (duplicated).
O’Shea BJ. 1988. An ‘expert system’ approach to bryological identification. In: Glime JM, editor. Methods in bryology. Proceedings of the Bryological Methods Workshop; Mainz. Nichinan: Hattori Botanical Laboratory. p. 321–327.
O’Shea BJ. 1988. List of papers on computer topics that have appeared in the Bryological Times. Bryological Times. 45 Suppl:14.
1989
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1989. Programs in the IAB Software Library. Bryological Times. 49 Suppl:1–6.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1989. IAB Software Library – amendments to version 3.0. Bryological Times. 49 Suppl:7–8.
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1989. Use of purchasable software for bryology III: Integrated software, the all-purpose solution. Bryological Times. 49 Suppl:9–10.
Lafarge-England C, O’Shea BJ. 1989. IAB Computer Workshop, 24–27 February 1989, Mont Rigi, Belgium. Bryological Times. 50:1–3.
O’Shea BJ. 1989. A guide to collecting bryophytes in the tropics. British Bryological Society Special Volume No. 3. Cardiff: British Bryological Society; p. 1–30.
O’Shea BJ. 1989. International Symposium on Bryophyte Ecology, 1988, Edinburgh. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 53:8–13.
O’Shea BJ. 1989. Use of purchasable software for bryology IV: Spreadsheets. Bryological Times. 49 Suppl:11–14.
O’Shea BJ. 1989. Use of purchasable software for bryology V: Graphics [manuscript].
1990
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Progress on the European Bryological Bibliography. Bryological Times. 53:10–11.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Identification programs. Bryological Times. 54:1, 6.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Herbarium management. Bryological Times. 54:9–10.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Distribution mapping using DMAP. Bryological Times. 54:10–11.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Standards for transfer of text files. Bryological Times. 55:8–9.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. dBase programs. Bryological Times. 57/58:14–15.
O’Shea BJ. 1990. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 55:28–29.
1991
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1991. A mapping system for dBase. Bryological Times. 60:10.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 1:1–2.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 2:1–2.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. Creating a disk-based journal. Bryological Times. 62/63:10–11.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. First steps in bryology. South London Botanical Institute Gazette. July 1991:3.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. First readings in bryology: recommended books. South London Botanical Institute Gazette. November 1991:4.
O’Shea BJ. 1991. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1990. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 57:26–27.
Pócs T, O’Shea BJ. 1991. Quick reference list of basic literature to identify tropical bryophytes. Tropical Bryology. 4:69–84.
1992
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1992. Report of the activities of the IAB Computer Committee. Bryological Times. 70:8–9.
O’Shea BJ. 1992. Beginner’s guide to tropical bryology – the BBS Tropical Bryology Group trip to Mount Mulanje, Malawi [abstract]. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 59:12.
O’Shea BJ. 1992. BBS TBG Expedition to Mount Mulanje, Malawi. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 59:30.
O’Shea BJ. 1992. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 3:1–3.
O’Shea BJ. 1992. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 4:1–2.
O’Shea BJ. 1992. The British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Expedition to Mount Mulanje, Malawi, 12th June – 4th July 1991. Bryological Times. 68/69:10–11.
1993
O’Shea BJ. 1993. BBS Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1992. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 61:33–34.
O’Shea BJ. 1993. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 5:1–4.
O’Shea BJ. 1993. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 6:1–3.
O’Shea BJ. 1993. Review: N.S. Parihar. A Dictionary of Bryophytes. Journal of Bryology. 17(3):515.
O’Shea BJ. 1993. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 2. Checklist of Malawi Bryophytes. Journal of Bryology. 17(4):645–670.
O’Shea BJ. 1993. The TAXA computer system – a taxonomic, distribution and herbarium management database. Bryological Times. 73:1–2.
1994
O’Shea BJ. 1994. BBS Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1993. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 63:46–47.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. One hundred years of bryology on Mulanje Mountain. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 63:47–48.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 7:1–4.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 8:1–5.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. Bryological data – an alternative approach. Bryological Times. 78:10–11.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. Is a microfilm, or computer disk, or CD-ROM a valid way of publishing nomenclatural novelties? Bryological Times. 81:1–2.
O’Shea BJ. 1994. Checklist of Malawi bryophytes – addendum, and other African records [manuscript].
1995
O’Shea BJ. 1995. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 9:1–6.
O’Shea BJ. 1995. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 10:1–10.
O’Shea BJ. 1995. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa. Tropical Bryology. 10:91–198.
O’Shea BJ. 1995. Malawi bryophytes and the Checklist of sub-Saharan African mosses [abstract]. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 65:28.
O’Shea BJ. 1995. BBS Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1994. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 65:44–45.
1996
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ. 1996. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 4. Dicranaceae: Campylopodioideae (Atractylocarpus, Bryohumbertia, Campylopus, Microcampylopus). Journal of Bryology. 19(1):121–136.
O’Shea BJ. 1996. BBS Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1995. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 67:35–37.
O’Shea BJ. 1996. Book review: LATMOSS. A Catalogue of Neotropical Mosses. Journal of Bryology. 19(2):371–372.
O’Shea BJ. 1996. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 11:1–7.
O’Shea BJ, Frahm JP, Porembski S. 1996. Die Laubmoosflora der Seychellen. Tropical Bryology. 12:169–191.
1997
Long DG, O’Shea BJ. 1997. BBS and the Internet. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 69:51.
Long D, O’Shea B. 1997. Progress on the BBS Internet home page. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 70:35–37.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. BBS Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1996. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 69:48–49.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. William Borrer, 1781–1862. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 69:55.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 12:1–7.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 2, 7/97) [manuscript]. https://www.oshea.demon.co.uk/tbr/afrchk-2.zip
O’Shea BJ. 1997. The mosses of sub-Saharan Africa. 1. A review of taxonomic progress. Journal of Bryology. 19(3):509–513.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 9. Regmatodontaceae, Rhachitheciaceae, Rhacocarpaceae, Rhizogoniaceae. Journal of Bryology. 19(4):805–813.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. The mosses of sub-Saharan Africa. 2. Endemism and biodiversity. Tropical Bryology. 13:75–85.
O’Shea BJ. 1997. A revision of Acanthorrhynchium (Sematophyllaceae: Musci) in Africa. Tropical Bryology. 13:125–130.
O’Shea BJ, Eggers J, Pursell RA, Sollman P, Stevenson CR. 1997. New bryophyte taxon records for tropical countries. 1. Tropical Bryology. 13:175–183.
Stark G, O’Shea B. 1997. Tropical Bryology Group visit to Uganda (1997). Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 70:26–30.
1998
O’Shea BJ. 1998. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 13:1–6.
O’Shea BJ. 1998. Notes on Seychelles mosses. 3–4. A revision of Papillidiopsis (Broth.) Buck & Tan, Rhaphidostichum Fleisch. and Warburgiella Müll.Hal. ex Broth. (Sematophyllaceae, Bryopsida) in Africa. Tropical Bryology. 15:75–88.
O’Shea BJ. 1998. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1997. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 71:30–31.
1999
O’Shea BJ. 1999. African Sematophyllaceae (Bryopsida) and a new key to the genera, using mainly gametophytic characters. Bryobrothera. 5:299–302.
O’Shea BJ. 1999. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 11. Pterigynandraceae M.Fleisch. and Rigodiaceae H.A.Crum (Bryopsida) in Africa. Journal of Bryology. 21(4):323–327.
O’Shea BJ. 1999. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 14:1–6.
O’Shea BJ. 1999. Bryophytes of Uganda. 3. Phyllodon truncatulus (Mull.Hal.) Buck is replaced in Africa by Phyllodon truncatus (Welw. & Duby) Buck (Hypnaceae, Bryopsida). Tropical Bryology. 16:203–204.
O’Shea BJ. 1999. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 3, 11/99). Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 1:1–133.
Porley RD, O’Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Matcham HW, Hodgetts NJ, Stevenson CR. 1999. Bryophytes of Uganda. 2. New and interesting records. Tropical Bryology. 16:179–193.
2000
Hodgetts NG, O’Shea BJ, Pócs T. 2000. 6.3 Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Hallingbäck T, Hodgetts N, compilers. Mosses, liverworts and hornworts: status survey and conservation action plan for bryophytes. Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK: IUCN/SSC Bryophyte Specialist Group, IUCN; p. 31–34.
Müller F, Wigginton MJ, O’Shea BJ. 2000. New bryophyte taxon records for tropical countries. IV. Tropical Bryology. 18:199–202.
O’Shea BJ. 2000. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 15:1–5.
O’Shea BJ. 2000. Notes on Seychelles mosses. 6. A generic revision of Clastobryophilum M.Fleisch. (Sematophyllaceae, Bryopsida). Tropical Bryology. 18:97–105.
O’Shea BJ. 2000. Notes on Seychelles mosses. 5. The mosses of Frégate Island. Tropical Bryology. 19:7–9.
O’Shea BJ. 2000. Taxonomic notes on Anomodon (Anomodontaceae, Bryopsida) in Africa. Journal of Bryology. 22(3):241–242.
O’Shea BJ. 2000. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 1998–9. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 74:59–62.
O’Shea BJ, Ochyra R. 2000. Families and genera of mosses no longer believed to occur in Africa. Tropical Bryology. 18:119–127.
Watling MC, O’Shea BJ. 2000. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 12. A revision of the genus Rhacopilopsis Renauld & Cardot (Hypnaceae, Bryopsida). Journal of Bryology. 22(3):207–216.
2001
O’Shea BJ. 2001. A synopsis of the non-leucobryoid Calymperaceae (Musci). Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 2:1–94.
O’Shea BJ. 2001. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 16:1–6.
O’Shea BJ. 2001. Felipponea (Leucodontaceae, Musci), a new genus for Africa, to include ‘Leucodon maritimus’ and L. assimilis. Tropical Bryology. 20:43–49.
O’Shea BJ. 2001. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 2000. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 76:61–62.
O’Shea BJ, Buck WR. 2001. Bryophytes of Uganda. 5. Bryocrumia L.E.Anderson (Hypnaceae, Musci), a monotypic genus new to Africa. Tropical Bryology. 20:103–107.
O’Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Hodgetts NG, Porley RD. 2001. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi. 13. New and other unpublished records. Tropical Bryology. 20:1–26.
Wigginton MJ, O’Shea BJ, Porley RD, Matcham HW. 2001. Bryophytes of Uganda. 4. New and additional records, 2. Tropical Bryology. 20 55–62.
2002
O’Shea BJ. 2002. Abstract: Brian O’Shea (London): Sematophyllaceae: a tropical moss family with species in Britain. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 78:25–27.
O’Shea BJ. 2002. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 2001. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 78:54–56.
O’Shea BJ. 2002. Checklist of the mosses of Sri Lanka. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 92:125–164.
O’Shea BJ, Price MJ. 2002. British Bryological Society Tropical Bryology Group Newsletter. 17:1–6.
2003
O’Shea BJ. 2003. A review of Gammiella Broth. (Sematophyllaceae, Bryopsida) in Africa, with a range extension to the East African islands and southern Africa. Tropical Bryology. 24:7–10.
O’Shea BJ. 2003. A revision of Schoenobryum (Cryphaeaceae, Bryopsida) in Africa. (British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mt, Malawi. 16.) Tropical Bryology. 24:147–159.
O’Shea BJ. 2003. An overview of the mosses of Bangladesh, with a revised checklist. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 93:259–272.
O’Shea BJ. 2003. Bryogeographical relationships of the mosses of Sri Lanka. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 93:293–304.
O’Shea BJ. 2003. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 4, 12/03). Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 4:1–182.
O’Shea BJ. 2003. Further notes on the genus Rhacopilopsis Renauld & Cardot (Hypnaceae, Musci). Journal of Bryology. 25(1):63–64.
O’Shea BJ, Wigginton MJ, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Hedenäs L, Matcham HW, Frahm JP, Porley RD, Ellis LT, Watling MC, Bates JE. 2003. Bryophytes of Uganda. 6. New and additional records, 3. Tropical Bryology. 24:161–168.
Price MJ, O’Shea BJ. 2003. Tropical Bryology Group – Progress in 2002. Bulletin of the British Bryological Society. 80:50–52.
2004
O’Shea BJ. 2004. Abstract: Building a bryological framework – getting over the threshold. XV IAB World Congress, Abstract Book: 49.
O’Shea BJ. 2004. Collecting and processing bryophytes. In: Wigginton MJ, editor. E.W. Jones’s liverwort and hornwort flora of West Africa. Meise: National Botanic Garden (Belgium). Scripta Botanica Belgica. 30:i–xii, 1–443.
O’Shea BJ. 2004. Hygrohypnum polare (Lindb.) Loeske, new to Italy. In: Blockeel TL, Bednarek-Ochyra H, Ochyra R, Çetin B, Keçeli T, Lara F, Mazimpaka V, Pokorny L, Matteri CM, O’Shea BJ, et al. 2004. New national and regional bryophyte records, 9. Journal of Bryology. 26(1):63–66.
O’Shea BJ. 2004. Distichium capillaceum, new to Uganda. In: Blockeel TL, Bednarek-Ochyra H, Ochyra R, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Gremmen NJM, Hébrard JP, Luís L, Matcham HW, O’Shea BJ, Séneca A, et al. 2004. New national and regional bryophyte records, 10. Journal of Bryology. 26(4):305.
O’Shea BJ. 2004. The mosses described by Carl Müller from Georg Schweinfurth’s collections in Sudan and D.R. Congo in 1869–1871, with a new checklist of Sudan mosses. Cryptogamie, Bryologie. 25(2):107–116.
O’Shea BJ, Matcham HW. 2004. Oreoweisia erosa (Müll.Hal.) Kindb., new to Chile. In: Blockeel TL, Bednarek-Ochyra H, Ochyra R, Bruggeman-Nannenga MA, Gremmen NJM, Hébrard JP, Luís L, Matcham HW, O’Shea BJ, Séneca A, et al. New national and regional bryophyte records, 10. Journal of Bryology. 26(4):306–307.
O’Shea BJ, Tan BC. 2004. XV IAB World Congress, Jan 12–16, 2004, Mérida, Venezuela. Field Meetings. Bryological Times. 113:7–9.
Price M, O’Shea B. 2004. A summary of progress: the first 15 years of the Tropical Bryology Group. Field Bryology. 83:23–30.
Tan BC, O’Shea BJ. 2004. The XV IAB World Congress on Bryology held at Mérida, Venezuela in 2004. Bryological Times. 112:2–3.
2005
Matcham HW, O’Shea BJ. 2005. A review of the genus Codonoblepharon Schwägr. (Orthotrichaceae, Bryopsida). Journal of Bryology. 27(2):129–135.
O’Shea BJ. 2005. Abstract: Bryophyte floras in the digital age: floras for those who cannot afford them. XVII International Botanical Congress: Abstracts. p. 83.
O’Shea BJ. 2005. Building a bryological framework – getting over the threshold. Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory. 97:281–285.
O’Shea BJ, Matcham HW. 2005. The genus Levierella (Fabroniaceae, Bryoposida) in Africa, and a review of the genus worldwide. Journal of Bryology. 27(2):97–103.
Porley RD, Matcham HW, O’Shea BJ. 2005. Sematophyllum substrumulosum – an overlooked native? Field Bryology. 87:5–8.
2006
O’Shea BJ. 2006. A revision of the genus Radulina W.R.Buck & B.C.Tan (Sematophyllaceae: Musci) (Notes on Seychelles mosses. 7). Tropical Bryology. 28:25–53.
O’Shea BJ. 2006. Checklist of the mosses of sub-Saharan Africa (version 5, 12/06. Tropical Bryology Research Reports. 6:1–252. https://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/OShea-2006-Checklist-of-sub-Saharan-African-mosses.pdf
O’Shea BJ, Tan BC. 2006. British Bryological Society Expedition to Mulanje Mountain, Malawi, 17. Sematophyllaceae (Bryopsida): Part 1. Journal of Bryology. 28(4):360–362.
2007
O’Shea BJ. 2007. Meiothecium intextum (Bryopsida: Sematophyllaceae): an overlooked taxon in Asia and Oceania, with notes on related taxa. Journal of Bryology. 29(4):275–276.
2008
O’Shea BJ. 2008. Name changes for 13 African mosses with invalid names. Tropical Bryology. 29:4–5.
O’Shea BJ. 2008. Mosses of Cook Islands. Tropical Bryology. 29:71–79.
O’Shea BJ, Price MJ. 2008. An updated checklist of the mosses of Paraguay. Tropical Bryology. 29:6–37.
2009
Frahm JP, O’Shea BJ, Ho BC. 2009. The moss flora of Mauritius. Archive for Bryology. 51:1–26.
O’Shea BJ. 2009. A new view of Bermuda’s mosses. Archive for Bryology. 57:1–3.
2010
O’Shea BJ. 2010. Mosses of Venezuela. Archive for Bryology. 75:1–23.
Appendix 2
BBS Bryophyte Workshop
1988 (Bristol): Computer techniques in bryology.
Conference papers by Brian O’Shea
BBS annual general meeting and symposium meetings:
1991 (Sheffield): Beginner’s guide to tropical bryology – the BBS Tropical Bryology Group trip to Mount Mulanje, Malawi
1994 (Preston Montford): Malawi bryophytes and the checklist of sub-Saharan African mosses
1996 (Ness Botanic Gardens): The BBS and the internet
2001 (Cardiff): Sematophyllaceae: a tropical moss family with species in Britain
International meetings:
IAB Bryological Methods Workshop, 1988 (Mainz, Germany): An ‘expert system’ approach to bryological identification
IAB Tropical Bryophytes Conference, 1995 (Mexico): Bryophyte biodiversity and endemism in sub-Saharan Africa
International Botanical Congress, 1999 (St Louis, USA): Moss diversity of Africa
IAB conference, 2002 (Lucknow, India): Mosses of Sri Lanka, Mosses of Bangladesh
IAB conference, 2004 (Venezuela): Building a bryological framework
International Botanical Congress, 2005 (Vienna, Austria): Bryophyte floras in the digital age: providing floras for those who cannot afford them