Leiosporoceros dussii is the only species in the hornwortgenusLeiosporoceros. 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.[4] 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. Unlike other hornworts with symbiotic cyanobacteria that enters through mucilage clefts, the mucilage clefts in Leiosporoceros is only present in young plants and then closes permanently once the cyanobacterial colonies have been established. Also mycorrhiza and pyrenoids are absent.[5][6] Male plants have been found in Panama.[2]
References
^ abHässel de Menéndez, Gabriela G. (1986). "Leiosporoceros Hässel n. gen. and Leiosporocerotaceae n. fam. of Anthocerotopsida". Journal of Bryology. 14: 255–259. doi:10.1179/jbr.1986.14.2.255.
^ abHässel 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.
^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.