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Project Noah Nature School
Frullania eboracensis
A leafy liverwort that forms a low-spreading mat of irregularly branched, leafy stems. The mat of leafy stems clings tightly to the underlying surface, and the mat pictured was approximately 4cm tall. The individual leafy stems are only 1 mm across and were reddish brown, which is their usual color during the winter. Along the stems, there are alternate leaves that partially overlap each other.
This is the first confirmed spotting of this species on Project Noah.
Growing on trees in a deciduous forest. For some reason, i've never paid much attention to these before even though I see them everywhere-they look like little snowflakes or roots spreading on tree trunks, but their structure is quite amazing, especially up-close!
The lower lobes of the leaves can store water, which enables these miniature plants to withstand dry spells for a long period of time.
Spotted on Mar 1, 2018
Submitted on Mar 7, 2018
10 Comments
Thanks subhojit!
Thanks António :)
Great find Christine,congrats on the well deserved SOTD and thanks for sharing
Thank you Leuba!
Thanks so much for SOTD Danièle, especially for this easily overlooked organism :)
Congratulations Christine !
Congratulations Christine, your New York Scalewort is our Spotting of the Day! Well done with the first confirmed occurrence for this species on our site.
"This branched pattern on a tree trunk is created by the New York Scalewort (Frullania eboracensis), our Spotting of the Day. Liverworts (division Marchantiophyta) count over 9,000 species of small non-vascular spore-producing plants. The Middle English word "wort" means plant. The term liverwort originated from the superficial resemblance of the outline of some liverworts with the liver. That resemblance led herbalists to believe that liverworts could cure diseases of the liver".
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Thank you Leuba. Tiny garnets are a perfect way to describe it!
Interesting spotting Christine and thanks for the notes. Lovely colour like tiny garnets.
Two, very pretty photos, with a very pretty design, on each photo....