Plant of the Month Feb. 2011: Riccardia Chamedryfolia aka Mini pellia aka Coral Moss

Mini Pellia/Coral Moss
Riccardia Chamedryfollia

Origin; Unknown... but is established in cooler northern regions sporadically worldwide including South East Alaska.
Family; Aneuraceae
Genus; Riccardia
Species; R. chamedryfolia
Lighting; Low-Medium
Difficulty; Low
Growth Rate; very slow

R. Chamedryfolia likes cooler temps but has no problems growing @ ~76*F in my tank.

Riccardia Chamedryfolia is a very small liverwort that grows very slow and is a great plant for shrimp to pick through.

It will grow on wood or rough rock (epiphytically or lithophytically) if given the chance... at least until it gets thicker and the underside is too shadowed for the attached thallus to keep hold.

Since it's a liverwort, entire plants can grow out of a single cell. so it's possible to get this plant in a shipment with others and have no idea you have it until you have an entire plant flourishing in your tank.

As stated above Riccardia Chamedryfollia is a very small plant that grows extremely slow and is not very common. it can sometimes demand a pretty price to boot. given all these factors it's probably best used in nano tanks or as an accent on a piece of wood or rocks.

Riccardia Chamedryfolia is also known to grow terrestrially similar to moss, liverworts and bryophytes if given the necessary humidity. bryophytes in general enjoy soft, clean water. R. Chamedryfolia is no exception.

Top to bottom in the photos below:
R. chamedryfolia
R. graeffi
unknown Riccardia sp.


Best photos/link i've found so far... http://www.theteh.com/html/mini_pellia_coral_moss.html

a couple more pictures i took...

thanks modernwar11; i'd go for it, if you can swing it.

msj; i totally agree

liverworts are pretty interesting to me because they're so simple and yet elegant in their own respect. a great way to add some green to that drab, dim area where anything else may seem inappropriate. this one's great because it seems to be really simple to keep happy. it doesn't float all over the tank like riccia, either. that's a great thing!

absolutely... i figured my fingers and the dime sitting on college ruled paper might help a little, but i know it's not sufficient. notice though, the (we'll call it stem thickness for sake of conversation) is not but maybe twice as wide as the line on the paper. about the width of a somewhat thick sewing needle.

i have a tidbit of hemianthus micranthemoides growing in soil i could snap a pic of it next to for size comparison if need be. the draw back... you'd have to know and be able to relate the size difference on hc also. still don't think i could do it justice, either.