Identification: Hepaticae ??

Discussion in 'Fungi, Lichens and Slime Molds' started by amadej, Feb 22, 2008.

  1. amadej

    amadej Member

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    Hither,

    Who can help me to determine what could this plant be? Doesn't seem to be a lichen. Probably Hepaticae, but which one? Found on wet, sandy wall of a FWW rock cavern (rock is limestone). Heavily shaded. Date of photos February 18. 2008. Alpine phytogeographical region with some submediterranean influence, southeast Julian Alps, Soca (Isonco) river valley, Slovenia.

    Any help appreciated very much.

    Regards
    Amadej Trnkoczy
     

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  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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  3. abgardeneer

    abgardeneer Active Member

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    Isn't it a foliose liverwort (Hepaticae)? This brings a question to mind - what features would distinguish a foliose liverwort from a foliose lichen if fruiting bodies are not visible?
     
  4. amadej

    amadej Member

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    Thanks Ron and abgardeneer. I cut the leafs and found a thin green layer beneath the upper surface (probably algae) and a thicker layer of spongy white fibers at the bottom side without a firm surface (probably fungus). This means that this plant is really a lichen. Following the link provided by you I found several pages with pictures and also some text descriptions which fit well to the plant photographed. Most probably this is Solorina saccata.

    Thanks again for your help.
    Amadej

    PS: Here are some links:

    http://www-biol.paisley.ac.uk/research/Asilverside/lichens/Solorina_saccata.html

    http://www.stridvall.se/lichens/gallery/Solorina/NIKA1021

    http://www.dr-ralf-wagner.de/Bilder/Solorina_saccata-Blatt.jpg
     
  5. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    The red discs would be fungal reproductive structures. Liverworts don't produce these.
     
  6. Michael F

    Michael F Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    I'd agree with Solorina saccata.

    "Common on soil in cracks between limestone rocks and sometimes on old limestone walls. It forms leaf-like patches which are bright green when damp, pale brown, often with a powdery bloom, when dry. Spore-producing discs are dark brown and slightly depressed, nearly always present. The lower surface is downy, pale brown to white." — R. Phillips, Grasses, Ferns, Mosses & Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland.
     
  7. abgardeneer

    abgardeneer Active Member

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    Thank you, all - I found that very educational!
    (I have to admit that when I looked at the photos of the "leaves" before, it was on a different monitor, and it looked as though they had holes through them. Only when I looked again today, on this monitor, did I realize that those darker areas were actually the "red discs"/fruiting bodies. I find it a bit scary that monitors can "read" images so differently!)
     
  8. amadej

    amadej Member

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    Thanks to all again.
    Abgardeneer, I had had the same bad experience with 'monitors' until I realized that hardware monitor calibration as well as controlled environmental light in my working place is more or less a must if one wishes to have reasonably 'reliable' colors, contrast, etc.. I use ColorVision's Spyder 2 Pro calibrator and 5600 K fluorescent light in my room with great satisfaction. Also, I often measure actual color temperature of light (White Balance) with my Nikon D70 (and gray card) before taking pictures of plants except at bright sunny weather, where fixed WB set to 5200K usually works fine. I found that selecting so called 'automatic white balance setting' (at least with my camera) can result in widely different results.

    Regards
    Amadej
     

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