#fossombronia

[neuropteran]

frillworts

[botanybyyen]

This weeks microscopy features Fossombronia (Fossombroniaceae)!

Despite looking like miniature heads of lettuce, these plant are thallose liverworts. There are ~25 species found in Victoria but most look alike except for their spores. Thus, they can be very hard to ID accurately without looking at spores under the microsope (hence not providing a species here, though I'd wager it's Fossombronia pusilla).

This specimen here is reproductive, and you can see the black spore-containing capsules and clear seta that make up the sporophyte.

This capsule had opened up and you can see that the spores are brown coloured.

[drhoz]

#3140 - Fossombronia sp. - Frillworts

On granite-derived soil near the Sullivan Rock inselberg near Jarrahdale.

A large genus of liverworts with ruffled thalli and cosmopolitan distribution.

The family was previously known as the Codoniaceae, but  Codonia turned out to be a synonym of Fossombronia.

Sullivan Rock, Western Australia

[melangle]

frillwort

[n3ko-blog]