Crescent-cup Liverwort
Whole
Adelaide Hills
Warty Liverwort
Patch
 
                      
Crescent-cup Liverwort (Lunularia cruciata)Class: Plants (Plantae) - Liverworts (Marchantiophyta) - Liverworts (Marchantiopsida) - Mosses & Liverworts
Order: Crescent Liverworts (Lunulariales)
Family: Crescent Liverwort (Lunulariaceae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Crescent-cup Liverwort (Lunularia cruciata)
This Photo:     Gemma

Thank you Dr Guido Brusa for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere
The Gemma here look like spores capsules in other life forms, with the cups looking like fruiting bodies.
However, the Gemma are actually parts of the plant that disperse (similarly to seed & spores) and take root. Instead of being wind blown, these are dispersed by raindrops hitting the cup.
The big difference is these are not produce sexually, but more a broken off part of the plant. Thinking of it as a plant that has suckered from roots. The new plant becomes independant of the original, but is a clone of the original.

Copyright © 2016-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 07-Sep-2016
This species is classed as If (Foreign Introduction)