If you can't beat them...

By Jerra

Liverwort.

Experimenting again with the extension tubes.   I spotted this liverwort growing between the paving in a damp corner, so it seemed a good challenge.

There are several thousand species of Liverwort, I have heard 9,000 suggested.  All I can say about this one is it is a Thallose liverwort.  In other words it grows as a flat Thallus (one of those green flat plates in the blip).

The two structures on and above the Thallus are reproductive organs.  Interestingly this example shows both asexual and sexual reproductive organs.  The cup like structures are Gemma Cups which carry out asexual reproduction.  The umbrella seems to be the female organ.  Some Liverworts have male and female on the same plant and just like some flowers some are male on one plant and female on another.

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