Easy come

I'm always pleased to see things growing where they weren't intended so I was thrilled to spot outside a discount store a pile of compost bags  embroidered with greenery. It looked like a fleshy sort of lettuce but in fact was a liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha, a primitive plant form that thrives in damp conditions. It employs both sexual and asexual forms of reproduction and you can see in the extra  tiny cups  dotted across the lobes, Drops of rain falling in these disperse the gemmae  they contain to develop into new plants without the need for fertilization. 

I know that liverworts aren't the most exciting plants  but there's a short speeded-up video here showing how they grow which is rather fun.