Nowellia curvifolia

Nowellia curvifolia is a species of liverwort belonging to the family Cephaloziaceae. It is a small, delicate plant that forms prostrate growths on rotting logs in forests throughout the northern temperate and subarctic regions (the Holarctic realm). The species is distinguished by its distinctive billowed leaves arranged in two rows, each divided into two pointed lobes with the lower lobe forming a specialised water-holding pocket called a water-sac. The plant shows seasonal colour variation from rose to purple to brown to spring green, developing reddish-purple pigmentation in autumn and winter. It reproduces both sexually, through spores produced in reddish-brown capsules, and asexually via single-celled gemmae. N. curvifolia serves as an indicator species in forest ecosystems, particularly in montane spruce-fir forests, where it often forms pure mats on decorticated logs and is associated with the slime mould species Barbeyella minutissima.