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Plants & Fungi
Lunularia cruciata
EOL Text
Canada
Origin: Unknown/Undetermined
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
United States
Origin: Unknown/Undetermined
Regularity: Regularly occurring
Currently: Unknown/Undetermined
Confidence: Confident
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Lunularia+cruciata |
In Great Britain and/or Ireland:
Foodplant / pathogen
fruitbody of Loreleia marchantiae infects and damages moribund thallus of Lunularia cruciata
Foodplant / pathogen
fruitbody of Loreleia postii infects and damages moribund thallus of Lunularia cruciata
Canada
Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNR - Unranked
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Lunularia+cruciata |
Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Lunularia+cruciata |
Lunularia cruciata or crescent-cup liverwort is a liverwort of order Marchantiales, and the only species in the genus Lunularia and family Lunulariaceae. The name refers to the moon-shaped cups, from Latin luna, moon.
Lunularia occurs commonly in western Europe, where it is native to the region around the Mediterranean. It is also common in California, where it now grows "wild", and is known as an introduced weed in gardens and greenhouses in Australia.[1] In America, the species grows only as a sterile form, easily recognized by the crescent-shaped cups containing asexual gemmae.
The discus-shaped gemmae are readily dislodged from the cups by splashes of rainwater. They can then quickly "take root" and start to grow in suitably damp places, which is why they are so successful in greenhouses.
Lunularia is not purely asexual; it can also reproduce sexually (see illustration) with four archegonia arranged in a cross-shaped head bearing diploid sporophyte plantlets. As in other liverworts, the main plant body or thallus is a haploid gametophyte.
Lunularic acid, a dihydrostilbenoid, is found in the L. cruciata.[2]
References[edit]
- ^ Schuster, Rudolf M. The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America, volume VI, pages 80-91. (Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1992). ISBN 0-914868-21-7.
- ^ Lunularic acid, a common endogenous growth inhibitor of liverworts. R. J. Pryce, Planta, 1971, Volume 97, Number 4, pages 354-357, doi:10.1007/BF00390214
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lunularia&oldid=627066696 |