Arctic daisy vs Cliff Scalewort

Arctanthemum arcticum compared with Porella cordaeana

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Arctic daisy	Cliff Scalewort
Kingdom same	Plantae (Plants)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Marchantiophyta (liverwort)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Jungermanniopsida (Jungermanniopsida)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Porellales (Porellales)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Porellaceae
Genus	Arctanthemum	Porella
Species	Arctanthemum arcticum	Porella cordaeana

Evolutionary Relationship

Arctic daisy and Cliff Scalewort share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Plantae. (Plants)

Conservation Status

Arctic daisy

LC — Least Concern

Cliff Scalewort

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Arctic daisy	Cliff Scalewort
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Arctic daisy

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Distributed across Norway and United States.

Cliff Scalewort

Habitat

Native to Europe and North America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Found across Europe (6 countries) and North America (United States).

Arctic daisy

The Arctic daisy (Arctanthemum arcticum) is a species in the genus Arctanthemum. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Cliff Scalewort

Cliff Scalewort, Porella obtusata, is a leafy liverwort in the family Porellaceae found on cliff faces, shaded rock surfaces, and the bark of trees in moist, humid environments across Europe and North America. Porella is one of the most diverse and widely distributed leafy liverwort genera, with species adapted to a range of substrates from bark and rock to soil in forests and coastal habitats. Cliff Scalewort forms flat, overlapping mats of small, scale-like leaves arranged in two lateral rows and a row of smaller underleaves, creating a texture that gives the plant its common name. The green to brownish-green plants are tightly appressed to the surface, extracting moisture from rainfall and condensation. Liverworts in this family reproduce sexually when conditions are favorable, producing small capsules on delicate setae, as well as vegetatively through fragmentation. Porella species on cliff faces are sensitive to air pollution, particularly sulfur dioxide, and have declined in many industrial regions of Europe, recovering more recently as air quality has improved. They serve as indicators of habitat continuity and air quality in ecological assessments. Cliff Scalewort is not globally threatened but may be locally rare in heavily polluted or drought-prone areas.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇳🇴 Norway 🇺🇸 United States