Anthocerotophyta

Anthoceros agrestis, photographed by BerndH.

Belongs within: Embryophyta.

The Anthocerotophyta include the hornworts, small non-vascular plants that produce relatively long horn-like sporophytes. Though classified in the past as liverworts, hornworts are distinct from other plants, and may represent the closest living relatives of vascular plants.

Characters (from Villarreal et al. 2010, Frey et al. 2001): Cells mostly uniplastidic, with alga-like chloroplast containing central pyrenoid; gametophytes harbouring internal colonies of cyanobacteria; gametophyte-sporophyte junction with sporophyte haustorial cells intermingling with gametophyte transfer cells; sporophyte growing from basal meristem, continually producing spores from tip downward.

<==Anthocerotophyta [Anthocerotae, Anthocerotales, Anthocerotopsida]
    |  i. s.: Folioceros FHH01
    |           |--F. appendiculatus FHH01
    |           `--F. fuciformis FHH01
    |         Dendroceros BC98
    |           |--D. cavernosa FHH01
    |           |--D. javanicus FHH01
    |           |--D. tubercularis FHH01
    |           `--D. validus FHH01
    |--Notothylas [Notothyladaceae] SS07
    |    |--N. indica Kashyap in Kashyap & Dutt 1925 SG07
    |    |--N. kahyapii Singh 2000 SS07
    |    |--N. levieri G06
    |    |--N. orbicularis FHH01
    |    |--N. temperata FHH01
    |    `--N. udarii Singh & Semwal 2001 SS07
    `--Anthocerotaceae [Phaeocerotaceae] SS07
         |--Phaeoceros SS07
         |    |--P. carolinianus FHH01
         |    `--P. laevis (Linnaeus) Prosk. 1951 [=Anthoceros laevis Linnaeus 1753] SS07
         |--Anthoceros BC98
         |    |--A. agrestis L-BC03
         |    |--A. caucasicus FHH01
         |    |--A. crispulus (Mont.) Douin 1905 [=A. punctatus var. crispulus Mont. 1840] B05
         |    |--A. endiviaefolius Montagne 1845 [incl. A. jamesonii Taylor 1855] E03
         |    |--A. erectus Kahyap 1915 SS07
         |    |--A. formosae FHH01
         |    |--A. granulosa FHH01
         |    `--A. punctatus FHH01
         `--Megaceros G06
              |--M. flagellaris FHH01
              |--M. giganteus M49
              `--M. tjibodensis G06

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BC98] Bateman, R. M., P. R. Crane, W. A. DiMichele, P. R. Kenrick, N. P. Rowe, T. Speck & W. E. Stein. 1998. Early evolution of land plants: phylogeny, physiology, and ecology of the primary terrestrial radiation. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 29: 263-292.

[B05] Bhattacharyya, P. K. 2005. Bryophyte flora of Barddhaman district, West Bengal. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 47 (1-4): 11-42.

[E03] Evans, A. W. 1903. Hepaticae collected in southern Patagonia. In Reports of the Princeton University Expeditions to Patagonia, 1896-1899, vol. 8 – Botany (W. B. Scott, ed.) pp. 35-62. The University: Princeton (New Jersey).

[FHH01] Frey, W., M. Hofmann & H. H. Hilger. 2001. The gametophyte-sporophyte junction: Unequivocal hints for two evolutionary lines of archegoniate land plants. Flora 196: 431-445.

[G06] Ghosh, J. P. 2006. A preliminary check-list of hepatics of West Bengal. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 48 (1-4): 73-102.

[L-BC03] López-Bautista, J. M., & R. L. Chapman. 2003. Phylogenetic affinities of the Trentepohliales inferred from small-subunit rDNA. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 53: 2099-2106.

[M49] Martin, W. 1949. The bryophytes of Stewart Island.—Part I. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 77 (2): 257-277.

[SG07] Singh, S. K. & J. P. Ghosh. 2007. Bryo-diversity in Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah, West Bengal. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49 (1-4): 155-164.

[SS07] Singh, S. K. & D. K. Singh. 2007. A preliminary census of Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of Doon Valley. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49 (1-4): 1-14.

Villarreal, J. C., D. C. Cargill, A. Hagborg, L. Söderström & K. S. Renzaglia. 2010. A synthesis of hornwort diversity: patterns, causes and future work. Phytotaxa 9: 150-166.