Identification notes
This is one of a number of liverworts that usually grow over or in Sphagnum, Leucobryum or wet peat. Sometimes it can grow in thin patches on the surface, but often just as straggling shoots growing within a Sphagnum hummock, close to the surface. It is a small plant, with shoots up to 1.5 mm wide, so often appears as fine strands when teasing apart a handful of Sphagnum. When growing in patches the gemmae on the shoot apices draw the attention, but often these are absent. Quite often it grows mixed with other bog liverworks.
The leaves are usually triangular and have a falcate tendency which is quite characteristic and a good pointer. Often, they are quite distant on the stem, so this can be seen clearly. The apex tends to be subacute but is occasionally bifid. With experience, the habitat, size and leaf shape can be enough to make a confident identification in the field.
Fresh material under the microscope shows eight or so oil bodies per cell, which are simple or few-segmented. This is an important character to separate it from atypical forms of C.fissa. The underleaves have 2-5 cells between the sinus and the rhizoid bearing part of the stem. The underleaf cells are usually less than 40μ long.
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