Bryophyte facts for kids
Bryophytes are a group of simple plants. They are some of the first plants that started growing on land. There are three main types of bryophytes: mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.
The scientific name for this group of plants is Bryophyta. These plants are special because they don't have special tubes (like veins in our bodies) to move water and nutrients around. Even though some scientists use "Bryophyta" only for mosses, the term is still useful because mosses, liverworts, and hornworts share many important features.
Scientists believe that liverworts evolved from green algae. Then, other plants, including mosses and hornworts, later evolved from liverworts.
A person who studies bryophytes is called a bryologist. The study of these plants is called bryology.
How Bryophytes Grow: Their Life Cycle
Like all land plants, bryophytes have a special life cycle called "alternation of generations." This means they have two different forms during their life that have different numbers of chromosomes.
One form is called the gametophyte. This form has unpaired chromosomes, which scientists write as "1n." The other form is called the sporophyte. This form has paired chromosomes, written as "2n."
A bryophyte's life begins when tiny, haploid spores from a parent plant land on the ground. Each spore grows into a leafy gametophyte. This gametophyte can be either male or female. Male gametophytes make haploid sperm. Female gametophytes make haploid eggs.
Water helps the sperm swim to the egg. When they join, they create a diploid embryo. This embryo then grows a tall stalk from the gametophyte. This stalk is often brown. At the top of the stalk is a structure called the sporangium. The sporangium is also diploid. It makes new haploid spores through a process called meiosis. When these new spores land on the ground, the whole cycle starts again!
Bryophytes are known as "gametophyte dominant." This means that when you see a bryophyte, you are mostly looking at the gametophyte part. The sporophyte is less common and always stays attached to the gametophyte. It needs to get its food from the gametophyte. Bryophyte sporophytes do not have branches. They only make one sporangium.
- The British Bryological Society [1]
Images for kids
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Marchantia, an example of a liverwort
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Hornworts were once believed to be the closest living relatives of the vascular plants.
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Mosses are one group of bryophytes.
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Liverworts are included in the bryophyte group
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Moss peat is made from Sphagnum
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See also
In Spanish: Bryophyta sensu lato para niños
