Megaceros (botany)
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 Megaceros vincentianus from a South-Brazilian rain forest; Spores pressed out of the sporophyte.
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Megaceros aenigmaticus Schust. |
Megaceros is a genus of hornworts in the family Dendrocerotaceae. The genus is found in east Asia, Australia, eastern North America, and tropical America. Its name means 'big horn', and refers both to the exceptionally large size of the gametophyte thallus and to the large, horn-shaped sporophyte that the plants produce. Many species have a branching thallus that is more than two centimeters wide. The gametophytes are monoicous.
The genus Megaceros is unusual among hornworts in that the sporophyte does not have stomata, and the spores are green because they contain chloroplasts, as does the related genus Dendroceros. The thallus cells often contain more than one chloroplast, as opposed to other hornwort genera. The elaters are helical. The genus Megaceros was first recognized in 1907 by D. Campbell.
[edit] References
- Hicks, Marie L. (1992). Guide to the Liverworts of North Carolina. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Parihar, N. S. (1961). An Introduction to Embryophyta, Volume I. Allahbad: Central Book Depot.
[edit] External links
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