Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens
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Species Types
Scientific Name
4 species in Missouri
Description
With their flattened, green forms, hornworts resemble liverworts, but their spore-bearing structures are elongated and horn-shaped. As with liverworts and mosses, hornworts make forest floors, streamsides, and spring openings beautiful.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 112 species in Missouri
Description
Liverworts, along with mosses, make forest floors, streamsides, and spring openings beautiful. They’re fascinating but overlooked.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Conocephalum salebrosum (formerly C. conicum)
Description
Snakeskin liverwort looks like large, flattened, irregular, overlapping straps. The surface is covered with polygon-shaped air pores, giving it a bubbly appearance similar to snakeskin. Look for it along streams, springs, and the moist bases of bluffs.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Marchantia polymorpha
Description
Umbrella liverwort is the most famous liverwort in the world. It grows in green ribbons and is very common on the soil of potted plants. It typically forms cuplike gemmae on its upper surface. Its palm-tree-shaped archegona are distinctive, too.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Peltigera canina
Description
Dog tooth lichen, Peltigera canina, is a foliose lichen that usually grows on soil. It’s common and easy to identify. The spore-bearing structures are rusty brown and rolled, standing upright at the lobe tips.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 436 species in Missouri
Description
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.
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.