| Marchantia berteroana | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Marchantia berteroana, with female gametangia known as archegoniophores | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Marchantiopsida |
| Order: | Marchantiales |
| Family: | Marchantiaceae |
| Genus: | Marchantia |
| Species: | M. berteroana |
| Binomial name | |
| Marchantia berteroana | |
Marchantia berteroana is a liverwort species in the genus Marchantia .
Marchantia berteroana is a flat, thalloid liverwort, with thallus up to 2cm long and 1.2cm wide. The thallus colour can range from dark green to yellow with a glossy surface, and is attached to the ground via rhizoids. Under a lens, pores can be seen on the upper surface. The gametangia (sex organs) grow vertically from the thallus, the plant is dioicous so individual plants produce male or female gametangia. [1] The male gametangia are called an antheridiophores, they are short with a flat disc-like structure which is approximately 1cm wide. The female gametangia are called archegoniophores, they have a taller stem and an umbrella-like structure at the top, approximately 1cm wide, from which the common name is derived. They also reproduce asexually via gemma cups which form on the surface of the thallus, they are approx. 4mm wide and 3mm high. [2] Gemma cups appear on the thallus more commonly in winter [3] when rainfall is higher, as raindrops are required to disperse the gemmules.
Marchantia berteroana contains the flavones isoscutellarein and hypolaetin 8-glucuronides. [4] The composition and amount of these chemicals changes seasonally depending on the reproductive state of the plant, when gametangia are present there is an absence of acacetin and its glycosides. [3]
Marchantia polymorpha is a similar in appearance, it can be distinguished from M. berteroana by the colour of the thallus, M. polymorpha is a dull green and often has a dark streak in the middle of the upper surface. [5] M. berteroana has brighter green thallus and usually no streaks on the upper surface. M. beteroana also has transparent scales on the underside of the thallus which help distinguish it from Marchantia foliacea which has dark purple/brown scales. [6]
Marchantia berteroana can be found in Australia, New Zealand, Southern Africa, [7] South America, [8] Antarctica [9] and, non-continental locations such as Papua New Guinea, Java, New Caledonia and various smaller islands. [10]
M berteroana prefers moist environments such as near fresh water sources, waterfall splash zones and, forest floors. [11] It is also known to be one of the first colonising species after bushfire in Tasmanian mixed forests. [12] [13]
See Marchantia
Bryophytes are a hypothetical taxonomic division containing three groups of non-vascular land plants (embryophytes): the liverworts, hornworts and mosses. They are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although they can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce via spores. Though bryophytes were considered a paraphyletic group in recent years, almost all of the most recent phylogenetic evidence supports the monophyly of this group, as originally classified by Wilhelm Schimper in 1879. The term "bryophyte" comes from Greek βρύον, bryon "tree-moss, oyster-green" and φυτόν, phyton "plant".
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.
Hornworts are a group of bryophytes constituting the division Anthocerotophyta. The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, the flattened, green plant body of a hornwort is the gametophyte plant.
An antheridium is a haploid structure or organ producing and containing male gametes. The plural form is antheridia, and a structure containing one or more antheridia is called an androecium. Androecium is also the collective term for the stamens of flowering plants.
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.
A gemma is a single cell, or a mass of cells, or a modified bud of tissue, that detaches from the parent and develops into a new individual. This type of asexual reproduction is referred to as fragmentation. It is a means of asexual propagation in plants. These structures are commonly found in fungi, algae, liverworts and mosses, but also in some flowering plants such as pygmy sundews and some species of butterworts. Vascular plants have many other methods of asexual reproduction including bulbils and turions.
Marchantia is a genus of liverworts in the family Marchantiaceae and the order Marchantiales.
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.
Riccia is a genus of liverworts in the order Marchantiales.
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.
Hymenophyton flabellatum is a species of the order Pallaviciniales (liverworts), one of perhaps several species in the genus Hymenophyton. It is a dendroid thalloid liverwort belongs to the family Hymenophytaceae and is commonly known as Fan liverwort. It is found in New Zealand, Chile, and common in wet forests of Australia and Tasmania. Hymenophyton flabellatum closely resembles with small filmy fern, Hymenophyllum and can be confused with the liverwort, Symphyogyna hymenophyllum.
Marchantia polymorpha, sometimes known as the common liverwort or umbrella liverwort, is a large liverwort with a wide distribution around the world. It is variable in appearance and has several subspecies. It is dioicous, having separate male and female plants.
Anthoceros agrestis, commonly called field hornwort, is a bryophyte of the genus Anthoceros. It has complicated taxonomies.
Dihydrostilbenoids (bibenzyls) are natural phenols formed from the dihydrostilbene (bibenzyl) backbone.
Conocephalum conicum, the great scented liverwort, common mushroom-headed liverwort or snakeskin liverwort, is a liverwort species in the genus Conocephalum .
Isoscutellarein is a flavone found in Cupuaçu and in the liverwort Marchantia berteroana.
Hypolaetin is a flavone. It is the aglycone of hypolaetin 8-glucuronide, a compound found in the liverwort Marchantia berteroana. Hypolaetin 8-glucoside can be found in Sideritis leucantha.
Lomatia polymorpha, commonly known as mountain guitar plant, is a shrub or small tree of the family Proteaceae which is endemic to Tasmania. It is a shrub or small tree with linear leaves, and white, cream-coloured or greenish flowers. It is common throughout its range which is approximately complementary to that of L. tinctoria in Tasmania.
Bryum argenteum, the silvergreen bryum moss or silvery thread moss, is a species of moss in the family Bryaceae. It is one of the most common urban mosses of inner cities and can be easily recognized without a microscope.
Asterella californica is a complex thallic liverwort in the phylum Marchantiophyta. A. californica often grows as colonies of flat rosettes of light green, rigid thalli, with undersides dark wine-red to nearly black. The receptacles are rounded, with four lobes each bearing a single sporangium sheathed by a white tattered skirt. A. californica is dioecious with separate male plants often intermingled with female plants. This species is found throughout California from San Francisco southward to San Diego and Guadalupe Island. Asterella californica is the commonest species of the three species of Asterella occurring in California; the other two species are A. bolanderi and A. palmeri.
