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Lunularia cruciata


Lunularia cruciata: The Crescent-Cup Liverwort

Lunularia cruciata belongs to the Marchantiales, a group of complex thalloid liverworts. It is the sole species in the family Lunulariaceae (Paton, 1999), easily recognized by its broad, green thallus and its unique crescent-shaped gemma cups. These cups produce gemmae, small clonal propagules that are dispersed by splashes of water (Paton, 1999; Grolle, 1983).

Gemmae cup of Lunularia

Scientific classification (Hodgetts et al. 2020)

  • Division: Marchantiophyta

  • Class: Marchantiopsida

  • Order: Lunulariales

  • Family: Lunulariaceae

  • Genus: Lunularia

  • Species: L. cruciata

Lunularia cruciata grows in moist, shaded microhabitats, both natural and artificial. While native to the Mediterranean region, it is now widespread in temperate and subtropical regions across the globe (Schuster, 1992). It commonly grows close to botanical gardens and any greenhouses. L. cruciata reproduces mostly by gemmae. These are splashed out of their crescent-shaped cups by raindrops, landing nearby to grow into genetically identical individuals (Paton 1999)

Although L. cruciata is not considered invasive, it can become a persistent greenhouse "weed", especially in commercial settings where moist, shaded environments are common (Schuster, 1992). While rarely damaging, it can quickly colonize f.e. potting media.

L. cruciata in a small forest stream close to the botanical garden of Marburg, Germany

sexual reproduction of L. cruciata

References

Crandall-Stotler, B., Stotler, R. E., & Long, D. G. (2009). Phylogeny and classification of the Marchantiophyta. Edinburgh Journal of Botany, 66(1), 155–198. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960428609005393

Grolle, R. (1983). Hepatics of Europe including the Azores: An annotated list of species, with synonyms from the recent literature. Bryophytorum Bibliotheca, 30, 1–160.

Paton, J. A. (1999). The liverwort flora of the British Isles. Harley Books.

Schuster, R. M. (1992). The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America east of the hundredth meridian, Volume V. Field Museum of Natural History.

Hodgetts, N. G., Söderström, L., Blockeel, T. L., Caspari, S., Ignatov, M. S., Konstantinova, N. A., Lockhart, N., Papp, B., Schröck, C., Sim-Sim, M., & Bell, N. E. (2020). An annotated checklist of bryophytes of Europe, Macaronesia and Cyprus. Journal of Bryology, 42(1), 1–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/03736687.2019.1694329​T