Riccia is well known to us all, it's used by many hobbyists for numerous purposes. Such as spawning media to raise fry, as shelter and, of course, ornamentally creating spectacular landscapes.

As a landscape element, the Riccia was first used by Takashi Amano, as an ornamental object of a high visual value, to be added to his landscapes.

We all have been knocked of our feet at the sight of one of these Riccia landscapes created by Mr. Amano. However, I myself had never seen Riccia growing freely on its natural habitat.

These photos belong to Sabastian Barilari from Uruguay .

We can easily appreciate how it grows in the running water's environs, under shelter of rocks and logs. Surely Amano's inspiration came from a place like this.

A close up of a “wild” Riccia

Another close up, of how it grows submerged by the running water.

In this last photo we can see the density with which it grows on this stream. The brown patch grows under hardly any light and is practically dead, clearly different from the very alive green part.

I truly hope that these photos will inspire the making of beautiful landscapes, and too help us to understand a bit more the so common, in our aquariums, mysterious and primitive hepatic.