Published March 4, 2026 | Version v1

Lejeunea (Crossotolejeunea) Spruce (Spruce 1884

  • 1. Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 2. Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium
  • 3. Botany Unit, Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
  • 4. Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function (SIP), Jena, Germany & Institute of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
  • 5. Mittlere Letten 11, Herdwangen-Schönach, Germany
  • 6. Botany Department, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Eger, Hungary

Description

Lejeunea subg. Crossotolejeunea Spruce (Spruce 1884: 161)

Crossotolejeunea (Spruce) Schiffn. (Schiffner 1893: 127)

Type species

Lejeunea boryana Mont. (lectotype, designated by Vanden Berghen 1945).

Description

Plants mostly dioicous (in about 70 % of the analysed species). Oil bodies granular (very rarely homogeneous). Male bracteoles restricted to the base of the male spike or occurring throughout. Female bracts and bracteole free or shortly connate on one side (broadly fused on both sides in sect. Echinocolea). Asexual reproduction by specialized devices rather common, including caducous leaves (or leaf lobes), caducous branches, and strap-shaped gemmae. In addition, vegetative reproduction by shoot fragmentation occurs in several sections.

Distribution

Pantropical, with some species extending into temperate regions.

Species

Eighty three species were found to belong to this subgenus.

Notes

The typical characters of subg. Crossotolejeunea are the predominance of dioicy, granular oil bodies, female involucre free or only shortly fused at the base, and the common presence of specialized devices for asexual reproduction. The commonness of asexual reproduction in the subgenus may be explained by the predominantly dioicous sexual system, causing an impediment to sexual reproduction (Devos et al. 2011; Kraichak 2012).

Based on the results of the analyses, subg. Crossotolejeunea is subdivided into 11 sections: sect. Apolejeunea, sect. Crossotolejeunea, sect. Echinocolea, sect. Flavae, sect. Heterolejeunea, sect. Inflatolejeunea, sect. Minutilobae, sect. Nanolejeunea, sect. Papillolejeunea, sect. Sordidae, and sect. Xenantholejeunea.

Notes

Published as part of Lee, Gaik Ee, Gradstein, S. Robbert, He, Xiaolan, Bechteler, Julia, Schäfer-Verwimp, Alfons & Pócs, Tamás, 2026, An infrageneric classification of the genus Lejeunea (Marchantiophyta: Lejeuneaceae) using molecular phylogeny and morphology, pp. 123-141 in Plant Ecology and Evolution 159 (1) on pages 123-141, DOI: 10.5091/plecevo.170279

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Additional details

References

  • Schiffner V (1893) Hepaticae. In: Engler A, Prantl K (Eds) Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 1 (3). Engelmann, Leipzig, 97–141.
  • Vanden Berghen C (1945) Genera des Lejeuneaceae. Lejeunia, Mémoires 6: 1–59.
  • Devos N, Renner MAM, Gradstein SR, Shaw AJ, Laenen B, Vanderpoorten A (2011) Evolution of sexual systems, dispersal strategies and habitat selection in the liverwort genus Radula. New Phytologist 192: 225–236. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03783.x
  • Kraichak E (2012) Asexual propagules as an adaptive trait for epiphylly in tropical leafy liverworts (Lejeuneaceae). American Journal of Botany 99: 1436–1444. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1200120