CONTENTS
Flora index
Fauna index
guide to the mangroves of singapore
Bryophytes
Peter K L Ng and N Sivasothi (editors)
  Liverworts

The single bryophyte (Phylum Bryophyta) which grows in the Singapore mangrove forest substrate is a liverwort. More about why bryophytes are scarce in mangroves.

Liverworts were named after the liver based on the species which resembled that human organ (with a heavy dose of imagination!) Such names had a utilitarian function in medieval times in Europe, because the herbalists (equivalent to the medicine man in other cultures) believed in the 'Doctrine of Signatures' which held that if a plant resembled a body part, it was useful for treating that part. We now know that this belief is invalid.

Liverworts are simple plants which lack the tissues for transporting water and food found in the other plants as well as other distinguishing characteristics.
There are other liverworts which grow on the branches or trunks of mangrove trees but these are rare.

Mangrove Liverwort
Lepidozia mamillosa
Class Hepaticopsida, Family Lepidoziaceae

Malaysia, Borneo, New Guinea. Locally, in some northwestern sites. Resembles small rnosses but there are none of these in mangrove areas; stems green, branching, growing flat with the tips raised; leaves stalkless, somewhat oblong, in two rows on either side of each stem, somewhat horizontal. On the muddy substratum or mud-lobster mounds. No known economic value. Rare.
wide shot of liverwort growth
Lepidozia mamillosa plants
growing on a mud-lobster
mound with a young Acrostichum aureum plant on the lower right

close-up of thalluses
Thalluses of Lepidozia mamillosa
each consisting of leaves on an axis
What is mangrove?
Introduction

The Ecosystem
Abiotic
Biotic

Value
Intro
Products
Indirect uses
Potential uses

About Mangroves
in Singapore
History
Mangroves to visit
Conservation
 
From "A Guide to Mangroves of Singapore", Peter K. L. Ng and N. Sivasothi (editors)
Volume 1: The Ecosystem and Plant Diversity and Volume 2: Animal Diversity
Authors: Kelvin K. P. Lim, Dennis H. Murphy, T. Morgany, N. Sivasothi, Peter K. L. Ng,
B. C. Soong, Hugh T. W. Tan, K. S. Tan & T. K. Tan
BP Guide to Nature Series published by the Singapore Science Centre, sponsored by British Petroleum
© 2001 Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, The National University of Singapore & The Singapore Science Centre