liverwort

American  

[liv-er-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈlɪv ərˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. any mosslike plant of the class Hepaticae, growing chiefly on damp ground, rocks, or on tree trunks and helping the decay of logs and the disintegration of rocks.

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liverwort British  

/ ˈlɪvəˌwɜːt /

noun

1. any bryophyte plant of the phylum Hepatophyta , growing in wet places and resembling green seaweeds or leafy mosses See also scale moss

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liverwort Scientific  

/ lĭv′ər-wûrt′,-wôrt′ /

1. Any of numerous small, green nonvascular plants of the division Marchantiophyta. Many liverworts reproduce asexually by means of gemmae. They also reproduce sexually, and their free-swimming sperm, produced in structures called antheridia, require liquid water, such as splashing raindrops, to reach the egg-producing archegonia. After fertilization, the small sporophyte grows directly on or in the gametophyte and is nourished by it. Liverworts are common in the tropics and often grow in moist soil, on damp rocks, and on tree trunks. Some liverworts have leafy bodies, while others have only a simple thallus. The name liverwort comes from the liverlike shape of the thalli of some species.

2. See more at bryophyte

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Etymology

Origin of liverwort

before 1100; Middle English; late Old English liferwyrt. See liver ¹, wort ²

Example Sentences

Early land was just beginning to host simple plants similar to liverworts, along with many-legged arthropods creeping along coastlines.

From Science Daily

An "extinction crisis" is happening in Britain's temperate rainforests where some of the world's rarest mosses, lichens and liverworts are vanishing, ecologists have warned.

From BBC

“If I were to make a prediction, I would envisage a growing fraction of the Peninsula’s landscape becoming dominated by a mosaic ecosystem of mosses, lichens, liverworts and fungi,” Roland said.

From Salon

The scientists also found that the function was conserved in several early land plants, like liverworts and mosses.

From Science Daily

"To do so we made use of two systems: gemmae of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, and the early-stage first true leaf of Arabidopsis thaliana."

From Science Daily