Studies on Colombian cryptogams. IIA. Hepaticae – Oil body structure and ecological distribution of selected species of tropical Andean Jungermanniales

This paper is the second (Florschütz & Florschütz-de Waard 1974) in the series of reports on cryptogams of Colombia, especially the high Andean bryophytes and lichens, in the framework of recent phytosociological and ecological studies in the area by A. M. Cleef and T. van der Hammen (Amsterdam) and his collaborators. The aim of these studies is to prepare comprehensive descriptions of the various Andean biota of Colombia as a basis for an evaluation of the biological diversity of the Andean environment of Colombia. This paper deals with the Hepaticae or liverworts and focuses on the structure of the oil bodies in the liverwort cell and the geographical and ecological distribution of the species. There are few papers on tropical Andean liverworts. The classical work by Spruce (1884-85) included liverworts of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Andes. A large number of Andean taxa are treated in Fulford’s Manual of the leafy liverworts of Latin America (Fulford 1963, 1966, 1968, 1976) and the latter has been our main source of data on distribution of species. Some ecological notes on tropical Andean taxa are found in the works of Herzog (1934, 1955), Robinson (1967) and Winkler (1976), who for the first time presented a synthesis of liverwort species distribution in relation to Andean vegetation typology in a limited area in Northern Colombia.