• Bryophytes include the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
• Although they resemble more complex land plants, they do not contain vascular tissue (xylem or phloem).
• Most species do have rhizoids that attach the gametophytes to the soil and absorb water and minerals.
• These nonvascular plants show three features that were adaptive during the transition to land.
• Above-ground parts display a cuticle, for protection against dessication, with numerous stomata or pores, for gas exchange.
• A cellular protective jacket surrounds the sperm-producing and egg-producing parts of the plant to prevent drying out.
• The embryo sporophyte (small, dependent) begins life inside the female gametophyte (large, independent).
• Mosses are the most common bryophytes.
• Eggs and sperm develop in the gametangia at the shoot tips of the familiar moss plants.
• After fertilization, the zygote develops into a mature sporophyte, which consists of a sporangium in which the spores develop.

Click on the Internet links below for more information.

Bryophytes Home Page. An introduction to the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Mosses and Allies. The Natural Perspective's site provides great photos and an introduction to each of the byophyte groups.

Internet Resources for Bryologists and Lichenologists. Tons of internet links provided by the American Bryological and Lichenological Society.

Mosses - Reproduction and Life Cycle. An illustrated page by a graduate student at Wake Forest University. Excellent review of the moss life cycle.

Bryophyta. From Ohio State University's General Biology course. The page includes notes, photos, and a diagram of the moss life cycle.