This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: [SG] shadegardens Digest - 29 Sep 1998 to 30 Sep 1998(#1998-299)

Hi Kay,
        I am aware of the Liverwort you refer to... have to fight it in the
nursery seedling pots all the time. I thought I was remembering wrong after
reading your message below, or perhaps this was another case of local names
being different around the States. Nope, found the reference in books not
regional as well. For one, Jack Sanders'  Hedgemaids & Fairy Candles.. The
Lives and Lore of North American Wildflowers agrees with me on the name.
        All very confusing at times when we use common names, but then we would
also loose a lot of opportunities to send messages to each other, huh?
Liverwort & Liverleaf are both "correct".
        Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com

----------
> From: Kay Lancaster <kay@FERN.COM>
> To: shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Subject: Re: [SG] shadegardens Digest - 29 Sep 1998 to 30 Sep
1998(#1998-299)
> Date: Thursday, October 01, 1998 1:14 AM
>
> >         Liverworts are Hepatica. Here locally we have two species. The
sharp lobe
> > and the little round lobed leaf. There are quite a few species around
the
> > world in Europe and Asia, Japan. There is even an American Hepatica
> > Association.
> >         They are so called because of the shape of the lobed leaves
resembling a
> > human liver in outline. Another back to the Doctrine of Signatures.. If
a
> > plant looks like a human part then it was used for treating that part
of
> > the body in medicine. Remember an old cross the counter remedy called
Sal
> > Hepatica (in a brown bottle, of course)? One of the ingredients was
extract
> > of hepatica.
>
> Gene, I don't think I've ever heard Hepatica referred to as a
"liverwort",
> though the name "hepatica" does refer to the liver-shaped leaf (well,
> liver shaped with a bit of imagination!).  The liverworts are
> bryophytes... moss relatives, with no real roots, no phloem and xylem
(the
> vascular tissues), and reproducing by spores, not seeds (and therefore,
no
> flowers).  There are also leafy liverworts that are mainly tropical, and
> hard to tell from true mosses unless you can get a good look at the
> spore-bearing structures. (The leafy liverworts are mainly tropical.)
>
>
> Marchantia polymorpha is the common liverwort you get shown in biology
> classes...it has spore-bearing structures (sporangiophores) that look
like
> little umbrellas.  Images at http://www.eou.edu/~kantell/img1032.jpg and
>
gopher://wiscinfo.wisc.edu:2070/I9/.image/.bot/.130/Bryophytes/Hepatophyta_I
mages/Marchantia_Images/Vegetative_views/Marchantia_habit
>
>
> My favorite is Conocephalum, which looks like the thallus (the flat
> ribbony thing that functions as both stem and leaf) is "lizardskin
> pattern".  There's a closeup at
> http://ucjeps.herb.berkeley.edu/bryolab/tree/images/conocephalum.200.gif
>
> Conocephalum has an interesting odor when crushed... sort of sweet
> licorice with floral.
>
> Kay Lancaster  kay@fern.com
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index