Division

Anthocerophyta:
Hornworts
(Gr. Anthos, flower, +keras, horn, + phyton, plant)
Division Anthocerophyta: Hornworts
Class Anthocerotopsida
Order Anthocerotales
Anthoceros
Dendroceros
Megaceros
Notothylas
Phaeoceros
Division Anthocerophyta: Hornworts
 Small, inconspicuous thalloid plants that grow
on moist soils, hidden by grasses and other
herbs.

 Rarely inhabit tree trunks or bare rocks.

 Roadside cuts and stable eroded soil in shade

are good sites for hornworts.

 About 100 to 150 named species.

Division Anthocerophyta: Hornworts
 Superficially resemble thalloid liverworts
(gametophores of many species being ribbon
shaped and thin) w/out a distinct stem or
leaves.

 Hornworts never contain oil bodies but

liverworts always do.

 As in all other embryophytes, an alternation

of heteromorphic generations occurs.
Division Anthocerophyta: Hornworts
 Quite distinct from all other embryophytes
(including the other nonvascular plants).

 Most striking features is the presence of a

single large chloroplast in each cell as
opposed to the numerous small plastids
found in all nonalgal plants.

 Chloroplasts have a pyrenoid (algal feature

absent in all other embryophytes).
Representative
Hornworts
Anthoceros
Anthoceros
 Anthoceros
 The name means “flower horn” referring to
the characteristic horn-shaped sporophytes.
 The dark color of the spores is the easiest way
to distinguish Anthoceros from the related
genus Phaeoceros, which produces spores
that are yellow.
 It lives in moist clayey soils along hills, in
ditches and in damp hollows among rocks.
 Host to a species of Nostoc.
 Anthoceros
 It lives in moist clayey soils along hills, in
ditches and in damp hollows among rocks.
 Host to a species of Nostoc.
Phaeoceros
Phaeoceros
 Phaeoceros
 Its name means 'yellow horn', and refers to the
characteristic yellow spores that the plants
produce in the horn-shaped sporophyte.
 The genus is distinguished by having yellow
spores, different chloroplast structure,
relatively less frilliness of the thallus when
compared to Anthoceros, and a relative lack
of internal cavities.
 Phaeoceros
 The elaters are yellowish, often branched, and
varying in size and form.
 The slender green capsules, when produced in
large numbers, resemble grass tufts.
 Mature spores are necessary for species
determination.
Dendroceros
Dendroceros
 Dendroceros
 Dendroceros grows on humid ground, rocky
outcrops, and on the sides of trees. Its name
literally means "tree horn".
 The gametophyte is yellowish-green and
usually less than one-half cm wide.
 The thallus branches in a bifurcating pattern.
The edges of the thallus are only a single
layer of cells thick and have an undulating
margin.
 Dendroceros
 It is common to find symbiotic colonies of
blue-green bacteria (usually Nostoc) growing
among the cells.
 Sporophyte is erect when mature, growing up
to 5 cm tall. Spores are green and large.
 Surface has stomata. The interior of the
sporophyte differentiates into a central
column and a surrounding mass of spores and
elater cells, with a distinct spiral.
Megaceros
Megaceros
 Megaceros
 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 monoecious.
 Megaceros
 Unusual among hornworts in that the
sporophyte does not have stomata, and the
spores are green because they contain
chloroplasts.
 The thallus cells often contain more than one
chloroplast, as opposed to other hornwort
genera. The elaters are helical.
Notothylas
Notothylas
 Notothylas
 The genus is found globally, but is usually
overlooked.
 It is the smallest of all the hornworts, with a
yellow-green gametophyte thallus that is
seldom more than a centimeter in diameter,
and usually much smaller.
 Also unusual among hornworts in that the
sporophyte is bullet-shaped and does not grow
very large (less than 2mm).
 Notothylas
 The sporophytes grow outwards rather than
upwards, and like Megaceros, there are no
stomata on the surface of the sporophyte.
 The elater cells do not grow helical
thickenings.