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Pleurozia
Sign in to savePleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is now classified in its own order Pleuroziales, but was previously included in a broader circumscription of the Jungermanniales. The genus includes twelve species, and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.
Species
Purple Spoonwort
GENUS
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumMarchantiophyta
- ClassJungermanniopsida
- OrderPleuroziales
- FamilyPleuroziaceae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 74
- With media
- 40
- Family
- Pleuroziaceae
- Collections
- US, TENN, WTU, MEL, MU, MO
- Recorded in
- Philippines, United States, India, Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, Fiji, La RéUnion
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Pleuroziaceae
- Image
- Pleurozia purpurea36373 580 360.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- taxon rank
- genus
- taxon name
- Pleurozia
- Commons category
- Pleurozia
- taxon common name
- 紫叶苔属
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
2 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- References
Pleurozia is the only genus of liverworts in the family Pleuroziaceae, which is now classified in its own order Pleuroziales, but was previously included in a broader circumscription of the Jungermanniales. The genus includes twelve species, and as a whole is both physically distinctive and widely distributed.
The lower leaf lobes of Pleurozia species are fused, forming a closed water sac covered by a movable lid similar in structure to those of the angiosperm genus Utricularia. These sacs were assumed to play a role in water storage, but a 2005 study on Pleurozia purpurea found that the sacs attract and trap ciliates, much in the same way as Utricularia. Observations of plants in situ also revealed a large number of trapped prey within the sacs, suggesting that the species in this genus obtain some benefit from a carnivorous habit. After Colura, this was the second report of zoophagy among the liverworts.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Pleurozia” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.