Observations of spore morphology of some hepatic species (Marchantiophyta) in China

Abstract

The spores of four genera and six species, Porella ceaspitans (Stephani) Hatt., Frullania gaoligongensis X.-L. Bai et C. Gao, F. appendistipula Hatt., Riccia cavernosa Hoffm., R. frostii Aust. and Targionia hypophylla L., were studied by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The result shows that their spore morphological differences can be obviously distinguished. The in- formation provided by SEM shows the significant character differences among spe- cies, which provides new materials for the further studies of the taxonomy of Hepaticae.