Phylum%20Bryophyta

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Phylum Bryophyta

• Non- Vascular Plants
• Moss

Bryophyta means mosslike plant
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Not really moss

• Irish moss (algae)
• Reindeer moss (lichen)
• Spanish moss (flowering plant)

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Parts of a moss plant
Rhizoids
Leafy Shoot
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Life Cycle of Moss
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Life Cycle of Moss
Alternation of Generations

• Sporophyte Generation produces spores (asexual)
• Gametophyte Generation produces gametes (sexual)

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Life Cycle of Moss
Gametophyte Generation

1. The top of the male gametophyte bears the
   antheridia which produces sperm
2. The top of the female gametophyte has one or more
   archegonia which contains the ova
3. Sperm swim from the antheridia to the archegonia
   and fertilizes an ovum (zygote)

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Life Cycle of Moss
Sporophyte Generation

1. Zygote grows into a stalk with a capsule which
   produces spores
2. When mature the cap comes off and spores disperse
3. Spore grows when environmental conditions are
   right
4. First grows into a cellular filament called a
   protonema
5. Protonema then forms the leafy shoots and rhizoids

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Life Cycle of Moss
Protonema
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Moss
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Moss Capsule
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Liverworts
Liver Plant
Marchantia a common liverwort with a y-shaped
thallus
Have splash platforms which look like little
umbrellas
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Benefits of Mosses

• Help to replenish the soil
• Help to prevent soil erosion
• Peat moss or Sphagnum is used by gardeners to
  pack plants for shipment and in Iceland and other
  northern regions it is used as fuel
• Has been used for surgical dressing