Blink January 4, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Schlick in mysteries.trackback
Have you ever had the experience where you just look at something and you know in an instant what it is? (That’s the premise for the book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcom Gladwell.) I had that experience in the gorge last week when I found something green growing alongside the creek.
A part of my mind said instantly, “Liverwort.” Another part of my mind said, “What are you talking about? You don’t even know what a liverwort is. Stop trying to be so knowledgeable!” I took lots of pictures and asked my good friends at ID Please on Flickr. Guess what? It’s liverwort. Snake Liverwort. Conocephalum conicum.
There are two main categories of liverworts – thalloid and leafy. Snake is the largest in the first category.
I guess I must have learned about liverworts in that same biology class when I learned that there are 2 kingdoms of living things… It was still stuck back there in the gray matter somewhere and <BLINK> – suddenly it emerged, though I hadn’t needed that information for decades.
Aren’t brains amazing things?
Learn more about it here:
Snake liverwort is a good description. BTW, I liked the book Blink. Malcolm Gladwell was from our region originally and is a local hero of sorts.
What a freakycool plant liverwort is – cool photo!