Scapania subalpina Northern Earwort

A dioicous leafy liverwort which grows on sandy or gravelly soils on rocks by moorland and mountain streams. Its leaf lobes are equal in size, with the front lobe loosely appressed and the back lobe running down onto the stem. It can be easily confused with Scapania undulata whose leaf lobes are usually unequal in size and it may be frequently mistaken for it. It is a Boreo-arctic montane species, confined to western and northern Britain, with sparse occurrences in the southwest and a scattered distribution in Wales. It is largely absent from much of south Wales and with just one record in West Glamorgan from a steep east facing rock outcrop in the Clydach Valley at Tor Clawdd. Sporophytes are occasional.