Megaceros (botany)

Taxobox
name = Megaceros

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Megaceros vincentianus" from a South-Brazilian rain forest; Spores pressed out of the sporophyte.
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Anthocerotophyta
classis = Anthocerotopsida
ordo = Anthocerotales
familia = Dendrocerotaceae
genus = "Megaceros" Campbell
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Megaceros aenigmaticus" Schust.
"Megaceros alatifrons" Steph.
"Megaceros denticulatus"
"Megaceros endiviaefolius" (Mont.) Steph.
"Megaceros flagellaris" (Mitt.) Steph.
"Megaceros fuegiensis" Steph.
"Megaceros gracilis"
"Megaceros guatemalensis" Steph.
"Megaceros novae-zelandiae" Steph.
"Megaceros pallens" (Steph.) Steph.
"Megaceros pellucidus" (Colenso) E.A. Hodgs.
"Megaceros salakensis" D. Campb.
"Megaceros tjibodensis" D. Campb.
"Megaceros vincentianus" (Lehm. & Lindenb.) Campb.

"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.

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.

External links

* [http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/summer-scholarship/2003-projects/vella-megaceros.html Megaceros in Australia]
* [http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjb/1995/73.php Name changes in Megaceros]