Leafy Liverworts

This group gathers Mosses and Liverworts subcategory members belonging to the class Jungermanniopsida, the leafy liverworts, the largest of the three classes within the division Marchantiophyta and, despite the superficial resemblance many species bear to true mosses, an entirely separate lineage of non-vascular land plants. Every family gathered here produces small, thin, typically lobed or dissected leaves arranged in two or three rows along a creeping or ascending stem, a body plan clearly distinguishable on close inspection from the spirally arranged, usually undivided leaves of a true moss. It spans families such as Lepidoziaceae and Frullaniaceae, whose members often grow as thin, closely appressed mats on tree bark, rotting wood or rock, and Plagiochilaceae and Porellaceae, generally larger and more robust leafy liverworts that can form conspicuous, visible carpets in consistently moist, shaded forest habitats.