Mylia anomala
Marchantiophyta
Mylia anomala (Myliaceae)
Anomalous Flapwort
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Locally frequent in bogs
Distinguishing Features
Mylia anomala is seemingly restricted to bog and fen habitats, where it worms its way through Sphagnum, presenting at the surface as oppositely-arranged and converging elongate-oval leaves dusted with yellow-green asexual spores ("gemmae"), like a set of lips bearing a clump of cornmeal. Yanked from their substrate, the shoots are long (up to 3 cm), with the simple, unlobed leaves attaching obliquely to the stem and becoming more distantly spaced as you move down.
Similar species
This is the only large simple-leaved liverwort that grows exclusively through Sphagnum and has abundant yellow-green gemmae. The presence of prominent simple underleaves seperates it from Cryptocolea, Syzygiella, Jungermannia and Solenostoma. Because of its restriction to bog-like habitats, it could only be mistaken for the much smaller species of Odontoschisma (<<1 mm wide) or its brethren, Mylia taylorii. The latter species has leaves wider than long with rounded leaf tips topped by bright yellow-red gemmae, while those of M. anomala are longer than wide, with somewhat pointed leaf tips topped by light green gemmae.
Habitat
Moist to wet humus, bogs, swamps, peatlands, and occasionally decayed wood in the lowland and montane zones
Associated species
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