Water rock-bristle  (Seligeria carniolica)

Information authenticated by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk

• Calcareous: containing free calcium carbonate, chalky.
• Endemic: a species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
• Gametophyte: a life cycle stage in plants, which has one set of chromosomes (threads of DNA protein) in the cell nucleus (a condition known as ‘haploid’), which arises from a spore (which is also haploid). Sex cells (gametes) are produced during the gametophyte stage. This is the dominant life-cycle stage in liverworts and mosses.
• 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.
• Sporophyte: the stage of a plant life cycle that produces spores (microscopic particles used in dispersal and reproduction). This stage is diploid (in the cell nucleus there are two sets of chromosomes - threads of DNA protein) and is dominant in ‘higher’ plants such as flowering plants.
• Vascular system: in plants, the system that allows water and nutrients to move around.

1. UK BAP Species Action Plan (August, 2002)
   http://www.ukbap.org.uk
2. Church, J.M., Hodgetts, N.G., Preston, C.D. and Stewart, N.F. (2001) British Red Data Books: Mosses and Liverworts. Joint Nature Conservancy Committee, Peterborough.
3. Egerton, H. and Jones, F. (1998) Nature Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley, London.