Nature's umbrellas

I found this beautiful liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) yesterday when I went to pick Robyn up from Ockley.
The umbrella-like reproductive structures are known as gametophores. Those on female plants consist of a stalk with a star like structure on the top and contain the organs which produce the ova, the male gametophores are topped by a flattened disc and produce sperm.
liverworts have a dibiontic life cycle, that is one that displays two distinct phases, one haploid (gametophyte) and the other diploid (Sporophyte). This phenomenon is called 'alternation of generations'.
This liverwort is common throughout the UK, with the little umbrella-like structures appearing in June.
Sadly, it is not easy to get everything in focus, on such a large specimen, so I settled for just the umbrellas.
On another note, I contacted the Beetle recorder for Sussex today who was ecstatic about my records from Saturday The red brown longhorn Stictoleptura rubra is a first record for Sussex and the record for Oxythyrea funesta may just be the first in the UK!!!!!!! Yipee I am one happy bunny!!!