Plant Guide > Mosses and Lichens > Liverworts or Hepatics > Genus Porella

Genus Porella

Genus PorellaGenus PORELLA, (L.)

The Genus Porella is composed of large plants, dark-green to yellowish-brown, usually 2 to 3 times feather-branched.

The lobes of the leaves are very deeply two-parted; the dorsal large, and roundish egg-shaped, usually entire, the ventral lobes smaller, sometimes nearly separate from the dorsal, varying in different species from ovate to lanceolate; underleaves large, entire or toothed.

The antheridia are spherical, in the axils of overlapping leaves which form short rigid branches.

The perianth is oval to obovate, flattened at the mouth, which is fringed, toothed or entire. The spore-case is spherical to ovoid-oblong on a short stalk (seta) splitting nearly to the base into four parts. The spores are covered with spines. The elaters are once to thrice spiral.

The generic name is a diminutive of the Latin porus, a pore. Its significance is not evident.







Porella Platyphylla Lichen