“Small is beautiful” - Observation of the Week, 9/27/22

Our Observation of the Day is this Asterella drummondii liverwort, seen in Australia by @knicolson!

Ah, liverworts. They are small non-vascular terrestrial plants, but I think in general people are less familiar with them than they are with mosses, another large group of non-vascular plants. However, Australian botanist Kym Nicolson is a fan. “Small is beautiful,” he says. “I have had a fascination with small ephemeral plants for many years. The small often non-colourful, non-spectacular plants that you can’t see unless you get down on your hands and knees, with your face close to the ground. The things you don’t see when walking. You have to stop and look.”

Earlier this month, Kym visited Belair National Park, outside of Adelaide, to test a new camera.  

As it had been a wet spring, there were patches of moss and small ephemerals.  I was photographing some very small Centrolepis plants and then realised alongside was a miniature forest of fruiting bodies of the liverwort Asterella drummondii, which I then also proceeded to photograph. I have only seen these fruiting bodies a couple of times before and only once in this National Park. Liverworts are often overlooked due to their size.

It's a challenge photographing such small objects and I like to place the camera on the ground on a small beanbag to get a lateral view rather than photograph from above. The photos often show detail you can't see by just looking.

One of the advantages of getting close to the ground is you see a whole world of biodiversity you did not know existed. Tiny spiders, mites, ants and an array of other insects. I recently saw a peacock spider and am now trying to resist the temptation to get interested in the Salticidae.

As Kym noted above, his photograph shows the fruiting body Asterella drummondii. When looked at from above, you’ll see they generally have a single long thallus from which the fruiting body emerges.

Kym (above) says he’s had a lifelong interest in plants, which motivated him to earn a PhD in Botany at the University of Adelaide. 

For years I photographed and identified plants for my own personal interest, just as a hobby. The advent of iNaturalist has provided a purpose and a repository for my observations. I see myself as a contributor to iNaturalist rather than an end user of the observational data. A citizen scientist contributing observational data on our valuable biodiversity.

I have a particular interest in grasses and the Australian Chenopodiaceae (now placed in the Amarathaceae) and take every opportunity to try and photograph species I haven't previously seen and add them to iNaturalist.

- The iNat community has posted over 100,000 liverwort observations, check them out!

- Gardening Australia’s got this nice video about non-vascular plants.

Posted on 27 September, 2022 22:52 by tiwane