What is Marchantia?

What is Marchantia?

Classification:

Division: Marchantiophyta
Class: Marchantiopsida
Order: Marchantiales
Family: Marchantiaceae

Genus:Marchantia

What is Marchantia?

Marchantia includes about 65 species, distributed all over the world. Eleven species have been reported from India, mostly confined to the Himalayas. The genus is quite common at an altitude of 800-2500 mts. Marchantia grows well in moist, cool, shady places and on area of burnt ground usually by the sides of springs, streams, walls of wells, swamps, wet rocks and on tree trunks etc. It grows in large mats covering extensive areas.