Greater copperwort  (Cephaloziella nicholsonii)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Description

Greater copperwort belongs to a group of plants called liverworts. They are closely related to mosses and, in many cases, resemble them closely. Greater copperwort is a very difficult species to identify as it resembles other liverworts in the Cephaloziella family. It has leaves that are minute, barely 0.5 mm across. (Botanists tend to use the micrometre as a unit of measurement when dealing with liverworts. One micrometre equals 1/1000 mm.) Its leaves are arranged in two rows on the stem, accompanied by a third row of tiny underleaves. Each leaf is divided into two lobes.

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