Bazzania nudicaulis (Bazzania nudicaulis)
Description
A liverwort, yellowish brown to reddish brown, often nearly denuded of leaves and then appearing to consist largely of interwoven, wiry, rigid stems.From Davison, McFarland and Smith (1999): "Small forms are difficult to discern in the field from Sphenolobopsis pearsoni and Leptoscyphus cuneifolius. Rock and possible humus populations are likely admixed with the related Bazzania tricrenata and distinguishing features mostly require microscopic examination. Fortunately, Bazzania tricrenata is not known to occur on bark of standing trees, a frequent substrate for B. nudicaulis. Schuster (1969) lists the following characteristics for B. nudicaulis as useful in distinguishing the species: '(a) the marked tendency to shed leaves and underleaves; (b) the large and subentire underleaves, rotundate in outline; (c) the constant absence of all trace of sex organs; (d) the high incidence of ovate-lanceolate, entire leaves; (e) the ability to develop adventitious shoots." Also, from Schuster's formal description of the two species the following oil body information seems valuable: In B. nudicaulis oil bodies are per cell,
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Hepaticophyta
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Class: Jungermanniopsida
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Order: Jungermanniales
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Family: Lepidoziaceae
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Genus: Bazzania
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