Bryophyta

Bryophyta is a unique division of simple plants. Either the bryophytes are primitive or they are simplified evolutionary products of higher plants. There are three classes of bryophytes

• liverworts
• hornworts
• mosses
.

Bryophytes, unlike other plants, have a life cycle with dominant gametophyte generation. Bryophytic sporocytes are always dependent on the archegonium (egg holder) they arise from. They are further distinguished from other plant divisions by their lack of specialized vascular tissues (e.g. xylem and phloem).

There are about 16,000 species of bryophytes--mostly mosses.

A bryophyte

            ^ Sporophyte capsule
           | |Might be somewhat pretty
            |
            |
            |
            |
          x x x The gametophyte is
          x x x down here.  
     x  x x x x x x x x x  
      The gametophyte feeds the sporophyte

Bry*oph"y*ta (?), n. pl.

See Cryptogamia.

 

© Webster 1913.