Frullania eboracensis

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Frullania eboracensis, the New York scalewort (also called Ralsei’s Scalewort), is a very small liverwort in the Frullaniaceae family.

Key features
- Very tiny leafy shoots about 0.8–1 mm across
- Lower leaf lobes roughly as long as wide, about one-third to one-half the size of the upper lobes
- Underleaves about 0.15 mm wide, only slightly wider than the stems (0.10 mm)
- Underleaves have nearly toothless margins
- Perianths have smooth to slightly rough keels along the sides (not tuberculate)
- Leaf cells have irregular jagged edges and swollen walls; microscopy is often needed to confirm identification

Distribution and habitat
- Widely found in eastern North America and nearby southern Canada
- Grows on tree bark, especially on rocky bluffs and along wooded slopes, streams, ponds, and in swamps
- Also found on exposed tree roots, fallen logs, and damp wooden fences in shaded areas

Where it grows on trees
- Primarily on bark of deciduous trees such as oak, maple, ash, elm, eastern red cedar, hackberry, cottonwood, beech, and musclewood
- More noticeable on trees with gray bark (e.g., red maple, beech, holly, some oaks)
- Usually on trunks of older, mature trees rather than branches or roots, or on younger cultivated trees

Reproduction and life cycle
- Dioecious: male and female organs on different plants
- Males: organs on short side branches with several leaf-like bracts smaller than leaves
- Females: organs at stem tips; perianth sits at the tip with about three pairs of bracts around the base
- Asexual reproduction: gemmae form along leaf margins and can detach to grow into new plants

Ecology
- Rotifers can live in the helmet-shaped lower lobes of the leaves, but the effect is unknown
- Some birds, such as the prothonotary warbler, use the leaves to a small extent in nest building

Name and classification
- Common name derives from Latin Eboracum (York) and refers to New York, where it was first collected
- Binomial name: Frullania eboracensis Gottsche

Subspecies
- The species has subspecies, but none are listed here.