Montana Field Guide

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Porella cordaeana
* Size: Shoots are 3-4 mm wide.
* Lobules are about half the width of the under-leaves.
* Under-leaves do not overlap, leaving stretches of the stem visible.
* Decurrent portion of under-leaves are ruffled with a few teeth along the bases.
* Plants turn violet with iodine potassium-iodide (IKI).

Porella navicularis
* Size: Plants are glossy with shoots 1.5-3 mm wide.
* Trigones present - cell corners have the walls bulging inward.
* Lobules are neatly and noticeably revolute; nearly as wide as the under-leaves, and with an axis that diverges from the stem.
* Under-leaves are entire.
* Plants do not turn violet with IKI.
* Plants are strongly aromatic, but not acrid.

Porella platyphylla
* Under-leaves overlap.
* The lobule margins are slightly revolute.
* Decurrent portion of under-leaves have smooth, slightly revolute margins.
* Plants turn violet with IKI.

Porella roellii
* Cells walls of the leaves without their corners bulging into the cell lumens.
* Under-leaves about twice as wide as the lobules.
* Lobules are oriented parallel to the main stem, and are much narrower than the under-leaves.
* Plants do not turn violet with IKI.
* Plants taste peppery when fresh (David. H. Wagner personal communication).


Sources: Piippo and Norris 1996; Paton 1999.