Figure 1: Thallus liverwort in natural environment
Figure 2: Close-up of pores on thallus surface ("Liverworts," 2001)
Name: Conocephalum conicum
Family: Conocephalaceae
Common Name: Great scented liverwort
Family: Conocephalaceae
Common Name: Great scented liverwort
Collection Date: September 14, 2011
Habitat: On the side of a rock embedded into the landscape
Location: South Chagrin Reservation
Description: "Conocephalum conicum, commonly known as the snake liverwort, is the largest of the thalloid liverworts. Its pale to dark green thallus can grow up to 20 cm long. The dorsal surface of C. conicum is covered with tiny hexagons, which makes the entire thallus seem snake-like." (www.botany.ubc.ca)
Collector: Kelcie Cuckler
Key used: Conard, H.S. and P.L. Redfearn, Jr. 1979. How to Know the Mosses and Liverworts 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, Boston, Mass.
Keying Steps:
Introduction Key pg. 19
1b.Plants with stems and leaves, the larger leaves in two rows on the stem and a third row of leaves...present, ...sporophyte short-lived.....4
4b. Plants ...leafy,....sporophyte with sphaerical or ellipsoidal capsule...5
5a. Plants strongly flattened without distinction between stem and leaf... 6
6a. Opaque thallus.. rhizoids of two kinds.. sporophyte capsule not dividing regularly into four valves... p.239 Order Marchantiales
Key to Genera of Marchantiales p.239
1a. Pores visible without lens... 8
8b. Thalli without gemmae, and without marginal scales on underside... 10
10a. Air pore on low mound of colorless cells; antheridia in warty spot on thallus.. p.283 Conocephalum
Key to Family Conocephalaceae- Genus Conocephalum
Thalli pale to dark green above, purplish below, 1-2cm wide, up to 20cm long, dichotomously branching, upper surface with distinct polygonal areas, pores distinct, on moist rocks and soil, widespread in North America.
Links:
Picture Reference:
Biology 321 course website. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.botany.ubc.ca/bryophyte/index.html
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