Anthocerophyta from Eaglenest april 2024: 3 images.
I’m trying to contact a bryologist with a good knowledge about Indian bryoflora, specially for this plant, an anthocerophyta found at an altitude of around 2100m :
It’s a member of Phylum Anthocerotophyta. Can’t really say about the genus.
It looks like Phaeoceros laevis but with seen spore and elaters it is difficult to say anything with confidence!
May that picture help ?
1 image
It is quite interesting looking hornwort. In India we have six genera of hornworts, viz. Anthoceros, Folioceros (with mucilage cavities/canals in the thallus and with stomata in the epidermal layer of the capsule wall), Phaeoceros, Phymatoceros (with compact thallus and stomata in the epidermal layer of the capsule wall), and Megaceros and Notothylas (with compact thallus and the epidermal layer of the capsule wall without stomata). Precise identification is based on presence or absence of tubers and its position, nature of the lining layer of the capsule wall, colour of the spores and the sporoderm pattern, and the characteristics of the pseudoelaters. In one of the images (unnamed_2), the plant
appears to has a distinct thickened median region or the midrib, covered with rhizoids, which is characteristic of the genus Dendroceros – so far not known in Indian flora. A confirmation can be made only after examining the specimens. Will it be possible for the ‘collector’ of the samples to send the specimens for examination?