Field Guide

Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens

Showing 1 - 10 of 10 results
Closeup of thallus lobe of snakeskin liverwort
Liverworts
About 112 species in Missouri
Liverworts, along with mosses, make forest floors, streamsides, and spring openings beautiful. They’re fascinating but overlooked.
Wall scalewort, Porella species, growing on sandstone at Painted Rock CA
Porella Liverworts (Wall Scaleworts)
Porella spp.
Porella liverworts are fairly common in Missouri, but few people recognize them when they see one. These scaleworts are some of our many species of leafy liverworts — small, mosslike plants that form traceries on rocks or trees.
Fern moss, Thuidium species
Fern Mosses (Thuidium Mosses)
Thuidium spp.
Easy to identify, fern mosses look like tiny ferns. Just like many fern fronds, the branches lie on one plane and become shorter toward the tips. They even lean over like fern fronds.
Rock greenshield lichen growing on a rock
Rock Greenshield Lichen
Flavoparmelia baltimorensis
The rock greenshield lichen is a medium to large, green foliose lichen. Common and widespread, it grows on rocks and is especially characteristic of dry, igneous woodlands.
A variety of foliose lichens nearly covering the trunk of a small redbud tree, with redbud flowers in upper right
Lichens
About 436 species in Missouri
A lichen is a composite organism formed by certain fungus species that join with certain algae species. Lichens can be many colors and can be crusty, leaflike, flaky, branching, or mossy. They grow on rocks, trees, or other surfaces.
Glossy moss, or seductive entodon, Entodon seductrix, on a rotting log
Glossy Moss (Seductive Entodon)
Entodon seductrix
Glossy moss, or shiny or seductive endoton, is a common Missouri moss with broad, glossy leaves that are pressed tightly against the stems. It forms large, dense mats that sometimes cover an entire boulder or log.
Closeup of broom moss, Dicranum sp., at Clifty Creek CA
Broom Mosses (Dicranum Mosses)
Dicranum spp.
Beautiful components of woodland scenery, our most common broom mosses have glossy, thin, slender-pointed leaves that are quite long and all bend in the same direction, as if being blown by the wind.
Golden thread moss, or pale ditrichum moss, Ditrichum pallidum, with sporophytes
Golden Thread Moss (Pale Ditrichum Moss)
Ditrichum pallidum
Golden thread moss forms small, light green or yellowish, rounded, fuzzy-looking hummocks like a cat’s paws. The sporophytes are on remarkably long, slender, yellow, almost translucent stalks.
Silver Beard Moss, or grimmia dry rock moss, Grimmia laevigata
Silver Beard Moss (Grimmia Dry Rock Moss)
Grimmia laevigata
Silver beard moss grows on dry, exposed rocks and has a coarse texture. Each grayish-green leaf has a long, white, hairlike, slightly curved extension at the tip, giving this moss a silvery cast like a mink coat.
Baby tooth moss, or woodsy thyme-moss, Plagiomnium cuspidatum
Tooth Mosses (Thyme Mosses)
Plagiomnium spp. (formerly Mnium spp.)
Common and easy to recognize, tooth mosses in genus Plagiomnium have several common names. Identify them by their large, oval, transparent, light green, finely toothed leaves that grow on only two sides of the stalk.
See Also

About Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens in Missouri

Mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens seem rather similar, but these organisms are in very different groups. Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts are small, low plants usually found in damp habitats. Unlike more familiar plants, they lack veinlike structures and do not produce flowers or seeds — instead, they produce spores. Meanwhile, lichens are not plants at all: they are a collection of different fungi that have photosynthetic algae living within their tissues.