Identification notes
This is a small liverwort, but fortunately it always seems to have erect gemmiferous shoots, which are like little pin-pricks of light glowing on the dark woodland banks and other sheltered places this common species lives in.
These distinctive shoots help to distinguish C. arguta easily from, for example species of Lophocolea, which can share its habitat. Close examination of C. arguta will reveal it to be much smaller than C. bidentata and C. heterophylla anyway (though in humid woods watch out for L. fragrans, a much smaller species) and of course it lacks the tell-tale sweet aroma of Lophocolea species. The leaf shape of C. arguta is also immediately recognisable – with the two divergent lobes.
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