bryophyte

Examples of bryophyte in the following topics:

• Bryophytes

  • Bryophytes are the group of seedles plants that are the closest-extant relative of early terrestrial plants.
  • The first bryophytes (liverworts) probably appeared in the Ordovician period, about 450 million years ago.
  • Some spores protected by sporopollenin have survived and are attributed to early bryophytes.
  • More than 25,000 species of bryophytes thrive in mostly-damp habitats, although some live in deserts.
  • The gametes formed by bryophytes swim with a flagellum.

• Mosses

  • Mosses are bryophytes that live in many environments and are characterized by their short flat leaves, root-like rhizoids, and peristomes.

• Liverworts and Hornworts

  • Liverworts and hornworts are both bryophytes, but aspects of their structures and development are different.
  • The hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) belong to the broad bryophyte group that have colonized a variety of habitats on land, although they are never far from a source of moisture.

• The Importance of Seedless Vascular Plants

  • In a hostile environment, such as the tundra where the soil is frozen, bryophytes grow well because they do not have roots and can dry and rehydrate rapidly once water is again available.
  • Some reports indicate that bryophytes make the soil more amenable to colonization by other plants.
  • Since bryophytes have neither a root system for absorption of water and nutrients, nor a cuticle layer that protects them from desiccation, pollutants in rainwater readily penetrate their tissues; they absorb moisture and nutrients through their entire exposed surfaces.

• Early Plant Life

  • Seedless non-vascular plants (bryophytes), such as mosses, are the group of plants that are the closest extant relative of early terrestrial plants.

• The Major Divisions of Land Plants

  • Plants that lack vascular tissue, which is formed of specialized cells for the transport of water and nutrients, are referred to as non-vascular plants or bryophytes.

• Ferns and Other Seedless Vascular Plants

  • The phylum Lycopodiophyta consists of close to 1,200 species, including the quillworts (Isoetales), the club mosses (Lycopodiales), and spike mosses (Selaginellales), none of which are true mosses or bryophytes.
  • Lycophytes follow the pattern of alternation of generations seen in the bryophytes, except that the sporophyte is the major stage of the life cycle.

• The Evolution of Seed Plants and Adaptations for Land

  • Unlike bryophyte and fern spores (which are haploid cells dependent on moisture for rapid development of gametophytes), seeds contain a diploid embryo that will germinate into a sporophyte.