page_title: Plant litter
section_title: Plants
hierarchical_section_title: Plant litter / Habitat and food / Plants
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Кислица обыкновенная. Савинский район, Ивановская область, РоссияEnglish: Oxalis acetosella. Savinsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia
context_page_description: Litterfall, plant litter, leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, or duff, is dead plant material that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent nutrients are added to the top layer of soil, commonly known as the litter layer or O horizon. Litter is an important factor in ecosystem dynamics, as it is indicative of ecological productivity and may be useful in predicting regional nutrient cycling and soil fertility.
context_section_description: Certain plants are specially adapted for germinating and thriving in the litter layers. For example, bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) shoots puncture the layer to emerge in spring. Some plants with rhizomes, such as common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) do well in this habitat.
caption: Common wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella) in Ivanovo Oblast, Russia
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot S5 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2011:11:20 19:56:15", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "226", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3484", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9702", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:05:05 14:31:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:05:05 14:31:54", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "72", "EXIF SubSecTime": "140", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1632", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1224", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3388", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "43520/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2448000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}