Slender stonewort (Nitella gracilis)
Authentication
Information supplied by English Nature
http://www.englishnature.org.uk
and Plantlife
http://www.plantlife.org.uk
Information authenticated by Nick Stewart of Plantlife with the support of the British Ecological Society
http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/
Calcareous: containing free calcium carbonate, chalky.
Perennial: plants that live for at least three seasons; after an initial period they produce flowers once a year.
Rhizoids: thread-like structures that help to anchor the plant to the substrate, and absorb minerals and water. In liverworts they consist of a single cell, in mosses they are multi-cellular.
Spores: microscopic particles involved in both dispersal and reproduction. They comprise a single or group of unspecialised cells and do not contain an embryo, as do seeds.
