Forked Veilwort

I’ve found this liverwort on trees and on rocks down at the coast.  From a distance, it looks like a patch of light, bright green.  Textured rather than flattened.

However, I found some young, small plants on a tree branch which were much flatter – which meant the forking showed up nice and clearly.

The leaves are strappy and (as expected!) forked.  Although it’s a liverwork, it has a “midrib”, which is clearly visible.

At the end of some leaves, the midrib forks.

Beginners are taught that if there’s a nerve (costa), it’s a moss not a liverwort.  This midrib looks like a costa, which is very confusing!  Thanks to Barry at bryophytes.co.uk for explaining that midrib structures are there to strengthen the leaf structure and are structurally different to the costa in mosses.

Under the microscope, I could see that some leaves had scattered hairs on the margin, not in pairs.  The microscope also confirmed the absence of teeth on the edges of the leaves.  Both are confirmation of M. furcata not M. conjugata (Rock veilwort).

It was growing on a mixture of trees, especially ash and oak (lower clump here, with – I think – Homalothecium sericeum).

Down at the coast, growing on the rocks, it looked a bit different – tighter, less strappy, a bit smaller.  It might just have been drier.

Pictures taken at Kincraig cliffs, Elie, the Owlet wood path, Cupar, River Leven at Leslie.