A liverwort - Pellia epiphylla - geograph.org.uk - 930744

Description:

Summary[edit] Description: English: A liverwort - Pellia epiphylla This liverwort was growing beside the footpath, and consists of small leafy lobes. However, its spore capsules are seen here on long transparent stalks (the stalks are called "setae"). Two weeks earlier, these stalks were topped with dark brown spherical capsules; through a hand-lens, it could be seen that these round capsules had two paler lines on top, crossing at right angles (i.e. just like a hot cross bun). These marks are the lines along which the capsule will split open; it peels back into four segments, and some light brown tufts of tiny frizzy-looking hairs are exposed. These little tufts can be seen in the photo at the tops of the stalks; the darker parts they are sitting on are the peeled-back segments of the burst capsules. The tufts are made up of tiny spirally-coiled hairs called elaters; these change their shape in response to changes in humidity in the air; effectively, they ensure that the spores are only dispersed when moisture conditions are right. The location for this photo was the side of a footpath that passes through some damp and fairly dense woods at this point. These are ideal conditions for liverworts. [On classification: note that a liverwort is not a moss, though it has a similar life-cycle; in fact, mosses and liverworts are sometimes grouped together under the umbrella term "bryophytes".]. Date: 19 March 2008. Source: From geograph.org.uk. Author: Lairich Rig. Attribution(required by the license)Lairich Rig / A liverwort - Pellia epiphylla / CC BY-SA 2.0. Lairich Rig / A liverwort - Pellia epiphylla. Camera location55° 58′ 12″ N, 4° 35′ 23″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 55.970130; -4.589700. Object location55° 58′ 11″ N, 4° 35′ 23″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 55.969680; -4.589700.