''Herbertus borealis'' is a species of liverwort in the family

Herbertaceae Herbertaceae is a family of liverworts. The family consists of the genera ''Herbertus'', ''Schisma'' and '' Triandrophyllum''. The genus '' Herpocladium'' has been merged into ''Herbertus''. Genera As accepted by GBIF; * ''Herbertus ''Herbe ...

known as northern prongwort. It was described in 1970 by

Alan Crundwell Alan Cyril Crundwell (13 March 1923 – 20 August 2000) was a British bryologist, known for categorizing approximately 20 species of bryophytes, around six of which were previously unknown to science. He spent most of his professional life at th ...

. It is endemic to Scotland, where it is found only in the Beinn Eighe nature reserve, and lives in

dwarf shrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Der ...

heath alongside other large liverworts such as '' Anastrophyllum donnianum'', ''

Bazzania tricrenata ''Bazzania'' is a genus of liverwort in the family Lepidoziaceae. The genus name of ''Bazzania'' is in honour of Matteo Bazzani (1674-1749), an Italian botanist and professor of Anatomy from the University of Bologna. Species and subspeci ...

'' and ''

Pleurozia purpurea ''Pleurozia purpurea'' is a species of thalloid liverwort, notable for its red to purple colour. Common names of the species include purple-worm liverwort and purple spoonwort. Geographic distribution ''Pleurozia purpurea'' grows in bog enviro ...

''. A closely related species, described in 2012 as ''

Herbertus norenus ''Herbertus'' is a genus of liverworts in the family Herbertaceae. The genus has a broad global distribution, including sixteen species that occur in Eurasia: *''Herbertus aduncus'' (Dicks.) Gray – North America and East Asia *''Herbertus armi ...

'' and known as "Viking prongwort", is known from

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

and Norway and was formerly confused with ''H. borealis''.

References

External links

* Jungermanniales Least concern plants Plants described in 1970 Endemic flora of Scotland Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Bryophyte-stub