Identification notes
Bryologists often look for this (usually) pale green liverwort in one of its favourite habitats – damp acid clay or sandy tracks in high rainfall areas. However, it grows in many different places, though rarely where it would be regularly inundated – this is not an aquatic plant. It’s a medium-sized Scapania which grows in dense patches or as scattered stems. The dorsal lobe is much smaller than the ventral one, and is usually rather rectangular-looking (parallel-sided) with a pointed tip. Pale green gemmae are frequently present at the shoot tips and these can really catch the eye when abundant. A useful confirmatory microscope character is its collenchymatous leaf cells (thin-walled cells with conspicuously thickened corners).
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