Riccardia multifida
| Common Name | Comb Liverwort |
| Quick & Dirty ID | Filmy Fingers |
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Distinguishing Features
The infrequent R. multifida is a species that thrives in areas with constant moisture, such as clay river banks and seeping hillslopes, where it grows in deep green patches of regularly-branched thallus segments 1-3 cm long by 1 mm wide. The diagnostic feature for this species is the thin wing of tissue (1 cell wide by 2-3 cells thick) that surrounds the thallus. Under the microscope, oil bodies will be mostly absent in the surficial cells and the wing should be obvious in cross section.
Similar species
No other Riccardia has the thin wing of tissue surrounding the thallus. In order to see this, you will need a hand lens. Alternately, mounting the thallus on a slide should also show this feature.
Habitat
Moist to wet, shady humus, rock outcrops, cliffs, boulders, swamps, seepage areas, streambanks, waterfall spray zones, and occasionally decayed wood in the lowland and montane zones
Associated species
Fissidens sp., Pellia neesiana
Distribution Map
Relevant Literature
- Godfrey, J.D. (1977). Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of southwestern British Columbia . [Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia]. UBC cIRcle.
- Hong, W. S. (2007). Scapania. In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Eds.), Flora of North America North of Mexico (Vol. 3) . Oxford University Press.
- Wagner, D. H. (2013). Guide to the liverworts of Oregon: Scapania undulata . Oregon State University Herbarium.