GLI logo
Liverwort characters
Plant growth habit
Character menu
The character categories and their possible forms are:

Is this a leafy liverwort or a moss?
A number of characters help distinguish leafy liverworts from mosses, including:
  • Liverwort leaves never possess a nerve (although some have a midrib).
  • Often there are two rows of leaves placed laterally and a row of smaller 'underleaves' below.
  • The capsule splits along 4 axes (capsules in the moss Andreaea open by four splits but the capsule remains joined at the apex).
Frullania tamarisci
leafyliverwort

Dripping water from snowmelt saturates this large community of the crimson-coloured leafy liverwort, Frullania tamarisci. Growing on a metamorphic rock exposed in a cutting on the old railway line at Glen Ogle, between Lochearnhead and Killin, Stirlingshire.

Upright / erect
  • Barbilophozia attenuata
  • Barbilophozia hatcheri
  • Jungermannia excertifolia
  • Leiocolea
  • Porella cordeana
  • Ptilidium ciliare
  • Riccardia palmata
  • Scapania nemorea
  • Trichocolea tomentella
Barbilophozia attenuata Barbilophozia attenuata (Scapaniaceae)
Barbilophozia attenuata

Erect shoots

Masses of erect shoots of Barbilophozia attenuata on the side of a boulder in deciduous woodland at My Lord's Throat, Aberdeenshire.

It seems to be the case that liverworts with an erect habit tend to be small, while liverworts with larger leaves and longer stems tend towards a lax growth habit. These correlations would seem to be a reflection of the effect of gravity on plants that have little in the way of structural strengthening.


Prostrate or lax
  • Diplophyllum albicans
  • Frullania dilatata
  • Frullania tamarisci
  • Lepidozia reptans (Q) Note:
    The small shoots of Lepidozia reptans vary in their orientation along their length and create a semi-erect "jumble".
  • Lophocolea bidentata
  • Nowellia curvifolia
  • Plagiochila asplenioides
  • Plagiochila spinulosa
Nowellia curvifolia Nowellia curvifolia (Cephaloziaceae)
Nowellia curvifolia

Prostrate shoots

Numerous long shoots of Nowellia curvifolia seem to creep over the surface of this decorticated log in the Black Wood of Rannoch, Perthshire.

Liverworts with a prostrate growth habit may form mats or carpets on horizontal surfaces, but also flat patches on vertical substrates such as tree boles.



Dorsiventrally compressed
  • Diplophyllum albicans
  • Frullania dilatata
  • Frullania tamarisci
  • Lophocolea bidentata
  • Plagiochila asplenioides
  • Plagiochila spinulosa
  • Porella cordeana
  • Ptilidium ciliare
  • Trichocolea tomentella
Ptilidium ciliare Ptilidium ciliare (Ptilidiaceae)


Ptilidium ciliare

Dorsiventrally compressed

The flattened shoots of Ptilidium ciliare branch as they elongate, but the outline of the shoots and the leaves is somewhat obscure.

Many leafy liverworts, whether erect or prostrate, have a row of ovoid leaves on each side of the shoot which leads to a dorsiventrally compressed leafy shoot. In lax species, large numbers of such shoots often lie one on top of another, forming a mound; such aggregates provide shoots with mutual support and will also tend to reduce water loss due to the partial enclosure of moist air.

    Plant growth habit character table       View these data from a taxonomic viewpoint with notes on substrate and habitat
Go to:
Bryophyte introduction
Go to:
Thalloid plant body
Plant growth habit lists
Go to:
Arrangement of the leaves
Go to:
Details of the leaves
Go to:
Reproductive structures
Go to:
Summary
    The liverwort line
Email:  images@greenlight.f2s.com     |    Green Light Images is a Trading Name of  Green Light Systems Ltd Green Light Systems Ltd     |    Copyright © 2014 Green Light Systems Ltd.  All rights reserved.