#leafy liverwort

[fieldguidetothenarrativeforest]

[1: Clayton, VIC, Australia | 2: Baw Baw, VIC, Australia]

Scrolling iNaturalist to try to ID my moss samples, I discovered the light green sprawling one is actually a leafy liverwort.

Nonvascular plants remind me of miniaturised rainforests in the same way circuitboards remind me of cities bustling with resistor-cars around capacitor factories and microchip houses.

[drhoz]

#2247 - Porella sp. - Scalewort

The diversity of the epiphytes where-ever conditions were damp enough was amazing - I mean, there's at LEAST three other species in this photo alone. And I didn't get any usable photos of the others. *sigh*

Porella is a widespread genus of leafy liverwort, with between 84 to 150 species depending who you listen to. The genus are common epiphytes in temperate areas, and have lobed leaves with a large upper lobe and small lower lobe. Apparently it's important to check the underside of liverwort fronds for supplementary leaves.

Huka Falls, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

[vandaliatraveler]

Liverworts (Marchantiophyta) are small, non-vascular plants with a fascinating lifecycle typical of the bryophytes, which include mosses and hornworts. Due to their small size and growth habit, these primitive beauties are often overlooked, but they’re actually quite common. I often find them growing in the “splash” zone of shady seeps and brooks, typically clinging to rock surfaces. There are two types of liverworts: thallose liverworts, whose scaly, flat surfaces branch out in a “Y” pattern; and leafy liverworts, which have overlapping, leaf-like scales arranged in at least two rows. The photo above is of snakeskin liverwort (Conocephalum salebrosum), a thallose liverwort I found growing in a seep along the Mon River Trail. As you might surmise, liverworts make dramatic show plants in terrariums, especially if you can get them to sprawl over a rock surface.

[currentsinbiology]

This image of a leafy liverwort (Nowellia curvifolia) was created using software that patches together many different shots. Magdalena Turzanska, Univ. Wroclaw/Courtesy of Nikon Small World

[currentsinbiology]

Barbilophozia sp. (a leafy liverwort, bryophyte plant) and cyanobacteria

Magdalena Turzańska

University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

Technique: Epi-autofluorescence under UV light, z-stack reconstruction

[alxndrasplace]

(Smithsonian Magazine)  Microphotography - Barbilophozia sp. (a leafy liverwort, bryophyte plant) and cyanobacteria

(Photo : Magdalena Turzanska, University of Wrocław, Institute of Experimental Biology, Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Wrocław, Poland)