Re: Liverworts!
Brett Lymn (blymn@awadi.com.AU)
Mon, 16 Jan 1995 12:54:20 +1030 (CST)
According to Michael.Chamberland:
>
>>
>> What's wrong with liverworts? If you leave them long enough you
>> get pretty little 'palm trees' ( flowers? ) growing up from the
>> main leaf. They don't seem to do any harm, and are a good
>> indicator of moisture - if the liverworts go crispy, it's time
>> to water your CPs :)
>> I mean, short of napalm, how do you get it out of other pots?
>
>Those pretty little 'palm trees' are the dreaded archegoniophores of the
>invasive _Marchantia polymorpha_! Beware! If you though the prolific
>gemmae cups were effective at spreading the brood, just wait till those
>archegoniophores open their bomb bays loaded with spores!
>
>Look around your collection and you may find both palm trees (archegonio-
>phores) and umbrellas (antheridiophores). The antheridiophores produce
>the sperm cells which must swim across to another plant bearing
>archegoniophores, and then swim up the stalk of the archegoniophore
>to ferilize the egg cells nestled under the "palm fronds". The zygote
>develops into the sporophyte, which is little more than a cluster-bomb
>full of spores.
>
>Really though, liverworts are at least as interesting as another
>variety of Drosera spathulata. Don't kill them, collect them!
>
Yeesh - Personally I just want to get rid of the stuff! When I first
saw the thing I thought it looked ok and was not bothering my plants
_but_ when the rotten stuff fills the pot such that you cannot see the
peat and stops the new leaves of my sarraceniae coming up then I tend
to feel just a bit aggro towards it. That thick leaf and solid root
mass seem to make an almost inpenetrable barrier.
-- Brett Lymn, Computer Systems Administrator, AWA Defence Industries
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"Also, it takes a lot longer to get up North ..... The slow way"
- "Clever Trevor" Ian Drury