Liverworts

Specimen #9: Conocephalum concium, Snake Liverwort

Figure 1: Conocephalum concium on its original substrate. This thallose liverwort was found on a rocky wall. 

Figure 2: Thallus of Conocephalum concium at a scale of 20 um. Left-hand is the top side and right-hand is the underside. Notice its distinct polygonal areas and dichotomous branching, meaning it branches into two. Also, notice that there are no marginal scales on the underside of the thallus. The rhizoid, which are root-like in structure, are visible in the right-hand picture.

Name: Conocephalum concium

Common Name: Snake Liverwort

 Family: Conocephalaceae

Collection Date: September 22, 2016

Habitat: Moist rocks and soil, widespread in North America.

Location: On a rocky wall in Squaw Rock in South Chagrin Nature Preserve in Solon, Ohio.

Description: Thalli pale to dark green above, purplish below, 1-2 cm wide, up to 20 cm long, dichotomously branching, upper surface with distinct polygonal areas, pores distinct.

Key Used: Conard, H.S. and P.L. Redfern, Jr. 1979. How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts 2^nd Edition, McGraw Hill, Boston Massachusetts.

Keying Steps:

Class II. Hepaticae – The Liverworts, p. 232

Order 6: Marchantiales, p. 239

1a. Air pores visible without lens, each in a polygonal area…..8

8b. Thalli without gemmae, and without marginal scales on underside….10

10a. Air pore on a low mound od colorless cells….(p. 283) Conocephalaceae

Specimen #10: Marchantia polymorpha, Umbrella Liverwort

Figure 1: Left-hand picture is Marchantia polymorpha on its original substrate. This specimen was found on a rocky shoreline of a running river. The right-picture is a close-up of the specimen. Notice the gemmae cups which are the asexually reproductive structures of a liverwort like this one.

Figure 2:  Marchantia polymorpha at a scale of 20 um. The left-hand picture is the underside of Marchantia polymorpha. Notice the purplish tinge to parts of the thallus as well as the hair-like rhizoids which are used to collect nutrients from the soil and attach it to its substrate. The middle picture is an up-close look at the thallus with its elliptical air pores. The right-hand picture is the gemmae cup with papillae, the "teeth", on its edges. The small ovals within are the gemmae.

Name: Marchantia polymorpha

Common Name: Umbrella Liverwort

 Family: Marchantiaceae

Collection Date: September 22, 2016

Habitat: On damp soil, rocks, along streams, in gardens and greenhouses and on burned over areas, throughout North America.

Location: On a rock on a rocky shoreline of a running river in Squaw Rock in South Chagrin Nature Preserve in Solon, Ohio.

Description: Thalli 4-6 cm long, pale to dark green, often purplish below, pores barrel-shaped, gemmae cups round, male and female receptacles umbrella-like.

Key Used: Conard, H.S. and P.L. Redfern, Jr. 1979. How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts 2^nd Edition, McGraw Hill, Boston Massachusetts.

Keying Steps:

Class II. Hepaticae – The Liverworts, p. 232

Order 6: Marchantiales, p. 239:

1a. Air pores visible without lens, each in a polygonal area…..8

8a. Thalli with open of half-cups of dish-shaped gemmae on the thallus….9

9a. Gemmae cups round, fringed; thalli with thin scales along the margin beneath; air pores elliptic…(p.284) Marchantia

Marchantia, p. 284:

1a. Gemmae cups with surface papillae…Marchantia polymorpha L.