Lejeunea (sect. Inflatolejeunea) G. E. Lee & Gradst., comb. et stat. nov.

[Clade VIII]Lejeunea sect. Inflatolejeunea(S. W. Arnell) G. E. Lee & Gradst. comb. et stat. nov. Inflatolejeunea S. W. Arnell (Arnell 1953: 173) Type species Lejeunea capensis Gottsche. Description Plants glossy pale green, delicate, ca 0.5–1 mm wide. Stems with 7 rows of epidermal cells surrounding 5–12 rows of smaller medullary cells. Leaf cells with rather small trigones, with or without intermediate cell wall thickenings. Cuticle punctate-papillose. Oil bodies finely granular, ca 3–10 per cell, colourless. Male bracteoles restricted to the base of the male spike or absent. Gynoecial innovations frequently fertile. Perianths terete, eplicate. Asexual reproduction sometimes occurs by shoot fragmentation (L. globosiflora). Distribution Afro-American. Species Lejeunea capensis, L. cyathophora Mitt., L. globosiflora (Steph.) Steph. Further species (not sequenced) Lejeunea pluridichotoma Schust., nom. inval. Notes The small, glossy, greenish plants with a finely punctate-papillose cuticle, granular oil bodies and inflated, eplicate perianths are characteristic of sect. Inflatolejeunea. Although oil bodies in the section are usually described as being finely granular, Jungermannia - type (Arnell 1963; Schuster 1992; Gradstein and Cuvertino 2015), Reiner-Drehwald and Schäfer-Verwimp (2008) reported subhomogeneous oil bodies in L. capensis. As Jungermannia - type oil bodies may turn homogeneous upon degeneration following drying of the plants (Gradstein et al. 2001), the report of subhomogeneous oil bodies in L. capensis may have been based on degenerated oil bodies. References Arnell (1963), Schuster (1992), Reiner-Drehwald and Schäfer-Verwimp (2008), Gradstein and Cuvertino (2015).