Leiosporoceros

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Leiosporoceros dussii

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Anthocerotophyta
Class:	Leiosporocerotopsida Stotler & Crand.-Stotl. emend Duff
Order:	Leiosporocerotales Hässel^[1]
Family:	Leiosporocerotaceae Hässel^[2]
Genus:	Leiosporoceros Hässel^[2]
Species:	L. dussii

Binomial name

Leiosporoceros dussii
(Steph.) Hässel

Synonyms

Anthoceros dussii Steph.

Leiosporoceros dussii is the only species in the hornwort genus Leiosporoceros. The species is placed in a separate family, order, and class for being "genetically and morphologically distinct from all other hornwort lineages."^[3] Cladistic analysis of genetic data supports a position at the very base of the hornwort clade. Physical characteristics that distinguish the group include unusually small spores that are monolete and unornamented. Additionally, there are unique strands of Nostoc (cyanobacteria) that grow inside the plant parallel with its direction of growth. Male plants have not yet been found.^[1]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Hässel de Menéndez, Gabriela G. (1988). "A proposal for a new classification of the genera within the Anthocerotophyta". Journal of the Hattori Botanical Laboratory 64: 71–86.
^ ^a ^b Hässel de Menéndez, Gabriela G. (1986). "Leiosporoceros Hässel n. gen. and Leiosporocerotaceae n. fam. of Anthocerotopsida". Journal of Bryology 14: 255–259.
^ Duff, R. Joel; Juan Carlos Villarreal, D. Christine Cargill, & Karen S. Renzaglia (2007). "Progress and challenges toward a phylogeny and classification of the hornworts". The Bryologist 110 (2): 214–243. doi:10.1639/0007-2745(2007)110[214:PACTDA]2.0.CO;2.