Photo 326946835, (c) William J. Deml, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by William J. Deml

Attribution © William J. Deml
some rights reserved
Uploaded by william_deml william_deml
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Common Pellia (Pellia epiphylla)

Observer

william_deml

Date

September 1, 2023 01:32 PM EDT

Description

Here are some strange non-vascular "Liverworts" growing a couple meters up a damp north-facing sandstone outcrop, amongst some interesting mosses and small vascular plants as well - an amazing beautiful miniature garden. Their necessarily small randomly lobed structure gives them their resemblance to liver, hence the names Hepatics & Liverworts. Being non-vascular, they simply lack the structures that most botanical vocabulary refers to - they have no leaves, stems, roots, bark; just these little green liver-like lobes. They develop spore-bearing stalks periodically, but I did not see any evidence of them at this time.

Also on the sandstone face were some more modern familiar flowering vascular plants - Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) - to make an incredible display of plant development on Earth through the Ages.

This was all on a vertical exposure of damp sandstone at the foot of the steep north-facing valley wall in the remote recesses of the deep narrow valley of Enlow Fork as it snakes its way through the sandstones and shales of the Allegheny Plateau, covered in Appalachian Mixed Mesophytic (deciduous) Forest, here at an elevation around 274 meters (899 feet).

A very different Liverwort quite close by on the same day:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/187171832

Sizes
Copyright

William J. Deml - 2015