Liverwort Specimen

Date2007

Dimensions0.5 x 3.5 x 3 cm (3/16 x 1 3/8 x 1 3/16 in.)

Object numberHF.2012.49.45

DescriptionA small sample of dry Blasia pusilla L. liverwort with short, feather-like leaves. Leaves are a rich, green colour, flat on the top and bottom of the sample and elongated along the top, outer edge. Sample has substrate/soil mixed among the branches. It is roughly triangular shaped.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Bryophyta
Class: Machantiophytina
Order: Blasiales
Family: Blaziales
Genus: Blasia
Species: Blasia pusilla L.

Narrative

Collected on October 24, 2007, by Rosemary Curley from the Townshend Woodlot, Souris Line Road, Kings County (46°25'53.22"N,62°16'29.88"W. Datum: WGS84). Collected from an old growth sugar maple with coarse woody debris on a wood road. Associated plants: beech, Canada yew (taxus canadensis), striped maple (acer pensylvanicum).

Blasia pusilla L. is a medium sized liverwort. It's branches grow 5mm wide and form thick mats. The branches are lobed with rounded teeth along the outer edge. It reproduces through two types of gemmae star shaped gemmae present on the thallus surface, and spherical gemmae on the beaked receptacles. Dioicous capsules are common and arise near the thallus. It grows in damp soil, gravel, in ditches, riverbanks, quarries and road side banks. It usually grows on non-calcareous substrates with constant moisture. Geographically it is found circumpolar in Boreo-temperate regions including North America, Europe, Russia, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Greenland.

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