Anthoceros
| Anthoceros | |
|---|---|
| |
| Anthoceros agrestis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Anthocerotophyta |
| Class: | Anthocerotopsida |
| Order: | Anthocerotales |
| Family: | Anthocerotaceae |
| Genus: | Anthoceros L. |
| Species | |
|
See text | |
Anthoceros is a genus of hornworts in the family Anthocerotaceae. The genus is global in its distribution. Its name means 'flower horn', and refers to the characteristic horn-shaped sporophytes that all hornworts produce.
Description
Species of Anthoceros are characterized by having a small to medium-sized, green thallus that is more or less lobed along the margins.[1] The spores are dark gray, dark brown or black, this is the easiest way to distinguish Anthoceros from the related genus Phaeoceros, which produces spores that are yellow.[1][2]
The sporophytes of Anthoceros are larger and much more complex than those of Riccia, Marchantia, and Pellia. It is differentiated into a foot, a constriction like intermediate zone and a capsule. There is no seta. It arises in clusters from the dorsal surface of the thallus each surrounded at the base a tubular involucre.
Anthoceros species are host to species of Nostoc, a symbiotic relationship in which Nostoc provides nitrogen to its host through cells known as heterocysts, and which are able to carry out photosynthesis.[3] The Nostoc colonies are present on the lower ventral surface and are visible as blue-green patches which open outwards by slime pores.
This hornwort grows in moist clay soils on hills, in ditches, and in damp hollows among rocks. The adult plant body is a gametophyte.
Species
Species include:[4]
- Anthoceros agrestis
- Anthoceros himalayensis
- Anthoceros hispidus
- Anthoceros lamellatus
- Anthoceros neesii
- Anthoceros punctatus
- Anthoceros sambesianus
- Anthoceros scariosus
- Anthoceros tristanianus
References
- ^ a b Peng, Tao; Zhu, Rui-Liang (2013). "A revision of the genus Anthoceros (Anthocerotaceae, Anthocerotophyta) in China". Phytotaxa. 100 (1): 21–35. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.100.1.3. ISSN 1179-3163.
- ^ Proskauer, Johannes (1951). "Studies on Athocerotales. III". Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 78 (4): 331–349. doi:10.2307/2481996. JSTOR 2481996.
- ^ Enderlin, C. S. and J. C. Meeks. (1983). Pure culture and reconstitution of the Anthoceros-Nostoc symbiotic association. Planta 158(2) 157-65.
- ^ Ibarra-Morales, A., M. E. Muñíz, and S. Valencia. (2015). The genus Anthoceros (Anthocerotaceae, Anthocerotophyta) in Central Mexico. Phytotaxa [S.l.], v. 205, n. 4, p. 215–28.
External links
