The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information.
Marchantiales is an order of thallose liverworts that includes species like Marchantia polymorpha, a widespread plant often found beside rivers, and Lunularia cruciata, a common and often troublesome weed in moist, temperate gardens and greenhouses.
Jungermanniales is the largest order of liverworts. They are distinctive among the liverworts for having thin leaf-like flaps on either side of the stem. Most other liverworts are thalloid, with no leaves. Due to their dorsiventral organization and scale-like, overlapping leaves, the Jungermanniales are sometimes called "scale-mosses".
Metzgeriales is an order of liverworts. The group is sometimes called the simple thalloid liverworts: "thalloid" because the members lack structures resembling stems or leaves, and "simple" because their tissues are thin and relatively undifferentiated. All species in the order have a small gametophyte stage and a smaller, relatively short-lived, spore-bearing stage. Although these plants are almost entirely restricted to regions with high humidity or readily available moisture, the group as a whole is widely distributed, and occurs on every continent except Antarctica.
Jungermanniopsida is the largest of three classes within the division Marchantiophyta (liverworts).
Melchior Treub was a Dutch botanist. He worked at the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg on the island of Java, south of Batavia, Dutch East Indies, gaining renown for his work on tropical flora. He also founded the Bogor Agricultural Institute. He traveled and collected across many areas of Southeast Asia.
Cavicularia densa is the only species in the liverwort genus Cavicularia. The species was first described in 1897 by Franz Stephani, and is endemic to Japan, where it grows on fine moist soil.
Hattoria yakushimensis is the only species of liverwort in the genus Hattoria, in the family Anastrophyllaceae. It is endemic to Japan. Its natural habitat is temperate forests. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Phycolepidozia exigua was thought to be the only species of liverwort in the genus Phycolepidozia and family Phycolepidoziaceae. Until another species was found. Phycolepidozia exigua is endemic to Dominica, where it is critically endangered. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Haplomitriopsida is a newly recognized class of liverworts comprising fifteen species in three genera. Recent cladistic analyses of nuclear, mitochondrial, and plastid gene sequences place this monophyletic group as the basal sister group to all other liverworts. The group thus provides a unique insight into the early evolution of liverworts in particular and of land plants in general.
Blasiales is an order of liverworts with a single living family and two species. The order has traditionally been classified among the Metzgeriales, but molecular cladistics suggests a placement at the base of the Marchantiopsida.
Treubia is a genus of liverworts in the family Treubiaceae. There are seven species, all of which are restricted to the southern hemisphere. Five of the species occur in Australasia and the other occurs in Chile. All species are dioicous, with separate male and female gametophytes.
Sandeothallus is a small genus of liverworts restricted to East Asia. It is classified in the order of Pallaviciniales and is the only member of the family, Sandeothallaceae within that order.
Aneura mirabilis is a parasitic species of liverworts in the family Aneuraceae. It was first described in 1933, as Cryptothallus mirabilis. Plants of this species are white as a result of lacking chlorophyll, and their plastids do not differentiate into chloroplasts.
Makinoa crispata is the only species of liverwort in the genus Makinoa and family Makinoaceae. The genus Verdoornia was formerly included in this family, but has been transferred to the family Aneuraceae on the basis of recent cladistic analysis of genetic sequences.
Pleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is now classified in its own order Pleuroziales, but was previously included in a broader circumscription of the Jungermanniales. The genus includes twelve species, and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.
Ptilidium is a genus of liverwort, and is the only genus in family Ptilidiaceae. It includes only three species: Ptilidium californicum, Ptilidium ciliare, and Ptilidium pulcherrimum. The genus is distributed throughout the arctic and subarctic, with disjunct populations in New Zealand and Tierra del Fuego. Molecular analysis suggests that the genus has few close relatives and diverged from other leafy liverworts early in their evolution.
Riella is a genus in the liverwort family Riellaceae, and includes about eighteen species. Plants in the genus are small and grow submerged in shallow temporary pools. Although the genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, locating populations is often difficult. Its occurrence is sporadic and local, and the tiny plants are ephemeral. The ornamented spores remain viable for several years, allowing the plants to survive annual drying of their habitat. The plants are easily grown in laboratory cultures.
Ricciocarpos natans is the only species in the genus Ricciocarpos, a genus of liverworts in the family Ricciaceae. It was formerly listed in 1759 as a species of Riccia by Linnaeus, but then assigned to a new genus of its own in 1829 by August Carl Joseph Corda.
Herzogianthaceae is a family of liverworts belonging to the order Ptilidiales. The monotypic family consists of only one genus: HerzogianthusR.M.Schust..
