Anthelia (Dumort.) Dumort.
Jungermannia sect. Anthelia Dumort., Syll. Jungerm. Europ. 63. 1831.
Anthelia (Dumort.) Dumort., Recueil Observ. Jungerm. 18. 1835.
Type: Anthelia julacea (L.) Dumort. (≡Jungermannia julacea L.)
The foregoing family description also serves to characterize the only genus.
A family treated here with one genus, Anthelia. The genus has two Arctic-alpine species, one, A. juratzkana (Limpr.) Trevis., is bipolar in distribution and occurs in our area (see Schuster, 1974a). Some controversy surrounds circumscription of the family. Hässel (1980a) included the monotypic genus Grollea R.M.Schust. in the Antheliaceae, but (Schuster, 1984e, 2000a) placed it in its own family, Grolleaceae. Schuster (1984c, 2000a) placed the Grolleaceae in suborder Herbertineae. The Antheliaceae was placed in the Cephaloziineae by Schuster (1973, p. 392).
The genus includes only two species, Anthelia julacea (L.) Dumort. and the following. Both occur in the Northern Hemisphere, but A. julacea is chiefly oceanic and subarctic or alpine and absent from continental regions, whereas A. juratzkana is probably present in all Arctic regions and occurs northward to the farthest edges of land, to at least 82° 309 N (Schuster et al., 1959, 1974a). The range of A. juratzkana extends southward to New Guinea and to New Zealand. In the Americas, it extends, following the Cordillera, to Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia, southward to Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula. Both species occur only in strongly illuminated sites, either north or south of forested regions, or above treeline in alpine situations. Both occur on inorganic substrates, chiefly mineral soils.
References: Schuster (1974a, 2000a).
