Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Porpidia albocaerulescens
Description
Smoky-eye boulder lichen is a common crustose species that grows on rocks. Its thallus is pale gray or greenish gray and often covers an area 6 inches wide or more. Its button-shaped apothecia are dark, bluish gray with black rims.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Lecanora spp.
Description
Rim lichens have mostly disk-shaped apothecia (spore-bearing structures) encircled by noticeable rims that are the same color as the rest of the lichen body. This is a large group, plus there are lots of lookalikes.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Climacium americanum and Climacium kindbergii
Description
Tree mosses in genus Climacium look like miniature trees, complete with tiny upright trunks and long, slender branches clustered at the top. They form dense, thick mats in moist, shady places.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Entodon seductrix
Description
Glossy moss, or shiny or seductive endoton, is a common Missouri moss with broad, glossy leaves that are pressed tightly against the stems. It forms large, dense mats that sometimes cover an entire boulder or log.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Atrichum spp.
Description
Missouri has five species of starburst mosses (genus Atrichum). They tend to look different depending on whether they are wet or dry. When wet, they look like mass of bright green stars, but when dry, the leaves shrivel, contort, and look dead.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Polytrichum juniperinum
Description
Juniper haircap moss is common and easy to recognize, since it looks like a tiny forest of juniper sprigs. It’s called a haircap moss because the young capsules have densely hairy caps.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Physcomitrium pyriforme
Description
Urn moss, or goblet moss, is easy to identify in spring: The capsules of this common small moss are green as a gooseberry and are shaped like tiny pears, wide end facing up. Grows in open habitats on disturbed soils.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Leucobryum glaucum and Leucobryum albidum
Description
Pincushion mosses, or leucobryum mosses, are whitish green and form pillowlike mounds that may be the size of a pincushion or much larger. Look for them on thin soils of ridges and rock ledges.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Dicranum spp.
Description
Beautiful components of woodland scenery, our most common broom mosses have glossy, thin, slender-pointed leaves that are quite long and all bend in the same direction, as if being blown by the wind.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Ditrichum pallidum
Description
Golden thread moss forms small, light green or yellowish, rounded, fuzzy-looking hummocks like a cat’s paws. The sporophytes are on remarkably long, slender, yellow, almost translucent stalks.
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.