| Pleurozia purpurea | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Marchantiophyta |
| Class: | Jungermanniopsida |
| Order: | Pleuroziales |
| Family: | Pleuroziaceae |
| Genus: | Pleurozia |
| Species: | P. purpurea |
| Binomial name | |
| Pleurozia purpurea | |
Pleurozia purpurea is a species of thalloid liverwort, notable for its red to purple colour. Common names of the species include purple-worm liverwort and purple spoonwort. [2]
Pleurozia purpurea grows in bog environments found worldwide. The locations this species has been found in includes the following: "western Scotland and western Ireland, Norway, Faroes, Jan Meyen Island, Himalayas, Alaska, Guadeloupe, Hawaii". [1]
Pleurozia purpurea often grows on the edges of bogs, fens and pools. However, it can also be found growing on lawns and other water saturated regions at high elevations, such as a "blanket bog, wet heath, montane turf, scree and peat-covered rock ledges". [1] This species will grow in a matted form across the aforementioned water surfaces.
In general, this thalloid liverwort is composed of worm like thallus, that often form a creeping mat; these mats can be branched or unbranched. Evident by its name, P. purpurea is often red, dark red-green or purple in colour.
Although P. purpurea is a thalloid liverwort, it contains egg shaped, large, concave leaves. The sac shape of the upper leaves help it to collect water. This feature is unique to liverworts in this genus (Pleurozia). [3] The leaves are arranged in four rows; there are two rows of large leaves on the top side of the plant and two rows on the lower side. [2] Like in other liverworts, oil bodies and trigones are visible in its leaves.
Recent studies into Pleurozia purpurea have revealed that they participate in zoophagy. The sac shaped leaves of this species allows it easily collect and store water. However, it was found that P. purpurea also trapped Blepharisma americana, which is a protozoan species. Additionally, investigations found that this protozoan was attracted to the plant, who regularly (and purposefully) trapped small animals. [4]
Sarraceniaceae are a family of pitcher plants, belonging to order Ericales.
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophytasensu stricto. Bryophyta may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically 0.2–10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm (20 in) in height. There are approximately 12,000 species.
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.
Salix purpurea, the purple willowpurpleosier willow or purple osier, is a species of willow native to most of Europe and western Asia north to the British Isles, Poland, and the Baltic States.
Darlingtonia californica, also called the California pitcher plant, cobra lily, or cobra plant, is a species of carnivorous plant. It is the sole member of the genus Darlingtonia in the family Sarraceniaceae. This pitcher plant is native to Northern California and Oregon, US, growing in bogs and seeps with cold running water. This plant is designated as uncommon due to its rarity in the field.
Lunularia cruciata, the crescent-cup liverwort, is a liverwort of the order Marchantiales, and the only species in the genus Lunularia and family Lunulariaceae. The name, from Latin luna, moon, refers to the moon-shaped gemma cups.
Conocephalum is a genus of complex thalloid liverworts in the order Marchantiales and is the only extant genus in the family Conocephalaceae. Some species of Conocephalum are assigned to the Conocephalum conicum complex, which includes several cryptic species. Conocephalum species are large liverworts with distinct patterns on the upper thallus, giving the appearance of snakeskin. The species Conocephalum conicum is named for its cone-shaped reproductive structures, called archegoniophores. Common names include snakeskin liverwort, great scented liverwort and cat-tongue liverwort.
Sarracenia purpurea, the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks, or side-saddle flower, is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae.
Pinhook Bog is a unique bog in Indiana that has been designated a National Natural Landmark. It is part of Indiana Dunes National Park, an area that many citizens, scientists, and politicians fought hard to preserve. Its sister bog, Volo Bog, is located nearby. The bog contains a large variety of plants, including insect eating plants, tamarack trees, stands of blueberry bushes, and floating mats of sphagnum moss. Pinhook Bog is about 580 acres (2.3 km2), a quarter of which is a floating mat of sphagnum peat moss. A "moat" separates the bog from the uplands.
Hakea purpurea is a flowering plant in the family Proteaceae shrub and grows in Queensland and New South Wales. It is a small shrub with needle-shaped leaves and clusters of red flowers in late winter to early spring.
Colura zoophaga is a species of epiphytic liverwort that is endemic to the African highlands, specifically parts of Kenya. It belongs to the genus Colura, which has been hypothesized to be carnivorous as early as 1893. It is a recently described species that was the subject of the first scientific study aimed at investigating the allegations of carnivory in liverworts.
Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants still generate some of their energy from photosynthesis. Carnivorous plants have adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs. They can be found on all continents except Antarctica, as well as many Pacific islands. In 1875 Charles Darwin published Insectivorous Plants, the first treatise to recognize the significance of carnivory in plants, describing years of painstaking research.
Marchantia polymorpha is a species of large thalloid liverwort in the class Marchantiopsida. M. polymorpha is highly variable in appearance and contains several subspecies. This species is dioicous, having separate male and female plants. M. polymorpha has a wide distribution and is found worldwide. Common names include common liverwort or umbrella liverwort.
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.
Frullania asagrayana is a reddish-brown species of liverwort in the family Frullaniaceae that grows in eastern North America.
Roscoea purpurea is a perennial herbaceous plant occurring in the Himalayas, particularly Nepal. Most members of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), to which it belongs, are tropical, but species of Roscoea grow in much colder mountainous regions. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant in gardens.
Marchantia berteroana is a liverwort species in the genus Marchantia.
Warnstorfia exannulata is a leafy branching wetland moss in the genus Warnstorfia within the family Amblystegiaceae and class Bryopsida. This bryopsida moss is also known as Ringless-Hook Moss or Warnstorfia moss. It is the most common species of the genus in wetland environments and can be difficult to distinguish from others within the genus. It grows in acidic soils like fens and bogs, or in freshwater pools and lakes.
Marantochloa purpurea is a species of plant in the family Marantaceae. It is found in tropical Africa, where its natural habitat is moist lowland forest. The leaf stems are used for various purposes including making string, baskets, mats and traps and the leaves are used for thatching, and for wrapping objects.
Podomitrium phyllanthus is a thalloid liverwort in the Pallaviciniaceae family. It is found in wet forests and rainforests of Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.
