Plagiochila porelloides var. porelloides Lesser Featherwort

A dark-green, dioicous leafy liverwort which grows in mats in woodlands that are mildly acidic, often growing on rocky banks or the bases of trees and sometimes on rock faces. It is similar to Plagiochila asplenioides but it is usually smaller and unlike that species it has thread-like branches which hold the main shoots of the colony together. The front margins of the leaves are also reflexed. Male plants form yellowish inflorescences at the tips of the branches and when present are quite distinctive. Its British distribution is similar to Plagiochila asplenioids but it is absent from much of the southeast and it extends further north into the highlands of Scotland. It is common and widespread in Wales and it is frequent in the woodlands of Gower and those of the valley bases in Neath Port Talbot. It is rare or absent in the upland Sessile-oak woodlands that occur on the steep sided valleys. Male inflorescences and perianths are not uncommon but sporophytes are rare.