Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Usnea spp.
Description
Beard lichens are shrubby, branching, hairy-looking lichens that grow in tufts from a single point on tree branches. They are grayish green, and the branches are round in cross-section.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Teloschistes chrysopthalmus
Description
Gold-eye lichen is quite small but easy to identify. It grows on twigs and small branches. It is shrubby with yellowish branching stalks. The apothecia disks are bright orange and have spiny-looking appendages around the rim.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ramalina spp.
Description
Twig lichens, or ramalina lichens, are branching, shrubby lichens that grow in tufts from a single point. They are grayish green, and the branches are distinctively flattened.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
About 112 species in Missouri
Description
Liverworts, along with mosses, make forest floors, streamsides, and spring openings beautiful. They’re fascinating but overlooked.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Frullania eboracensis
Description
New York scalewort is the most common and easily recognized leafy or scaly liverwort. It forms tiny, delicate traceries on tree bark and is usually rusty or purplish red or green.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Porella spp.
Description
Porella liverworts are fairly common in Missouri, but few people recognize them when they see one. These scaleworts are some of our many species of leafy liverworts — small, mosslike plants that form traceries on rocks or trees.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Flavoparmelia caperata
Description
The common greenshield lichen is a medium to large, green foliose lichen. Common and widespread in eastern North America, it grows on tree bark.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Parmotrema spp.
Description
Ruffle lichens are rather large, broad-lobed foliose lichens that are loosely attached to the substrate. The rounded edges of the lobes usually lift up and look ruffled. Hairlike cilia arise from the lobe edges. They usually grow on tree bark.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Physcia stellaris
Description
The star rosette lichen is a super common, small foliose lichen that most often grows on trees, including trunks, limbs, and twigs. The pale gray thallus has branching, petal-like lobes. The center of the rosette is almost always crowded with apothecia cups with black or dark gray centers.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Candelaria spp.
Description
Candleflame lichens (Candelaria spp.) are tiny to small, greenish-yellow foliose lichens that grow in a branching, rosette form. Missouri species typically live on tree trunks.
See Also
About Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens in Missouri
Mosses, liverworts, hornworts, and lichens seem rather similar, but these organisms are in very different groups. Mosses, liverworts, and hornworts are small, low plants usually found in damp habitats. Unlike more familiar plants, they lack veinlike structures and do not produce flowers or seeds — instead, they produce spores. Meanwhile, lichens are not plants at all: they are a collection of different fungi that have photosynthetic algae living within their tissues.