Identification notes
This oceanic liverwort likes dry places in high rainfall areas that are sheltered so that it is protected from extremes of temperature and does not desiccate. It’s not too fussy about substrate though as long as is acidic. It’s a characteristic member of a community of bryophytes of oceanic oakwoods (also contemporarily called temperate rainforests). Look for it among such bryophytes as Diplophyllum albicans, Isothecium myosuroides, Racomitrium spp., Dicranum scoparium and Campylopus flexuosus.
Scapania gracilis is relatively large and it can usually be identified immediately from its untidy appearance (the leaf lobes are not closely appressed and the upper (smaller) one is often recurved) and its yellow-brown colour.
Read the Field Guide account
