Field Guide

Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens

Showing 1 - 10 of 13 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.
Snakeskin liverwort growing on a rock
Snakeskin Liverwort
Conocephalum salebrosum (formerly C. conicum)
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.
Colony of umbrella liverwort with maturing archegonia
Umbrella Liverwort
Marchantia polymorpha
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.
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.
Dog tooth lichen showing thallus undersides and upraised, white lobe tips
Dog Tooth Lichen
Peltigera canina
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.
Yellow cobblestone lichen (Acarospora contigua) on a rock
Cobblestone Lichens (Acarospora Lichens)
Acarospora spp.
Cobblestone lichens , or cracked lichens, grow flat against their substrate and are textured like lumpy cobblestone streets or old, cracked paint, or they are broken into sections like the mud of a dried lake. Depending on species, the color can range from white to greenish gray to brown to bright yellow.
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.
Pincushion moss, closeup
Pincushion Mosses (Leucobryum Mosses)
Leucobryum glaucum and Leucobryum albidum
Pincushion mosses, or leucobryum mosses, are whitish green and form pillowlike mounds that may be the size of a pincushion or much larger. Look for them on thin soils of ridges and rock ledges.
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.
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.