Lepidozia reptans
Marchantiophyta
Lepidozia reptans (Lepidoziaceae)
Little-hands liverwort
XXXXXX
Frequent
Distinguishing Features
Typically green or yellow-green, Lepidozia reptans is a dominant component of the decaying understories in coniferous forests, where it forms creeping and regularly-branched shoots about 1 mm wide and up to 3 cm long. The lateral leaves are wider than the stem and composed of 3 or 4 triangular lobes that are divided to less than 1/2 the leaf’s length.
Similar species
In its habitat on decaying wood and tree trunks, it could be mistaken for species of Cephalozia and Fuscocephaloziopsis, but those all have 2-lobed leaves, whereas in L. reptans, the leaves are 3-to-4 lobed. Within the family Lepidoziaceae, species of Bazzania can have lateral leaves that are also 3-lobed, but the lobes are very shallow and constrained to the tips of the leaves, while in Lepidozia reptans, the lobes descend to about 1/2 the leaf’s length. Species of Kurzia have fuzzy-looking shoots about 1/4 mm in width and 3-to-4 linear leaf lobes descending to about 3/4ths of the way down. In L. reptans, the leaves are also 3-to-4 lobed, but the lobes are triangular, not linear, and descent to about 1/2 of the leaf’s length. It is most likely to be confused with the two other regional species of Lepidozia. L. sandvicensis has identical leaf shape, but the leaves themselves are narrower than the shoot and arranged very distantly from one another; leaves of L. reptans are wider than the shoot and are closely spaced to one another. It is most similair to Lepidozia filamentosa, but that XXXXXX
Habitat
Well-decayed wood, humus, tree trunks, and streambanks in the lowland and montane zones
Associated species
XXXXXX