Sunday, August 17, 2008

Random plant event: return of the liverworts

Another picture of "blooming" liverworts, but this time it's the boys' turn. The earlier post was a picture of the female gametophytes, which look like tiny little palm trees; these are the males. Which also look like tiny little trees, but it's harder to see them as any particular type of tree. They're more like a little kid's drawing of a tree: trunk plus round bumpy thing on top.

(I recommend opening the picture in a new window.)

I know my sympathies are actually supposed to lie with the perennials, the pots' rightful owners. And maybe they would be, if the perennials were taking better care of themselves. I mean, I know it's kind of my job to take care of them, but . . . well, with some of them, I get the feeling that they're not interested in meeting me halfway, even. The liverworts, at least, are always green, pretty much take care of themselves, don't mind being overwatered, and use the space that the perennials don't want. What's not to love?

I don't know if it'd be possible to try to grow some indoors or not: maybe in a terrarium? My last terrarium attempt (with tropical plants) didn't work so well. Light and air circulation might be important. And maybe they have to have a winter dormancy? I suppose I won't know unless I try. I'll see what I can do.


4 comments:

Barbee' said...

They are attractive, and I don't think I had ever seen them before. I saw your title and I thought: I know lungwort and spleenwort, what does a liverwort look like?

Barbee' said...

Oooops, I forgot to click the little circle for further comments.

Anonymous said...

Old post, but you may nevertheless find the Marchantia section of this PDF interesting: https://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/bbs/resources/Fletcher.pdf

Unknown said...

While I do have a few house plants kind enough to drop seeds that grow in nearby pots , this looks like something unexpected that came along for the ride . I never get anything this interesting .Sometimes I've let the "ride along" plant grow a bit just to see what I have . All I got this way was ugly weeds - this is sort of cute . If you really want to see an explosion of fabulous . May I suggest a plant or seeds of sinningia pasilla ( white , purple or both ) in an terrarium kept under a grow light - you will have dozens of plants all blooming in no time ! It's like rabbits - george plant queen from MA