Division Bryophyta

DIVISION BRYOPHYTA
INTRODUCTION
Bryophytes are the simplest terrestrial plants. They evolved from higher green algae. The
Bryophytes and the Pteridophytes are grouped together as the seedless plants - Cryptogams.
The Pteridophytes are the vascular seedless plants while Bryophytes are the non-vascular
seedless plants because they lack vascular tissues (lack true phloem and xylem).
DISCOVERY
During the First World War, nurses ran out of bandages for wounded soldiers. In desperation
they used soft green plant material found growing at the edge of a nearby lake, as a
substitute. To their Surprise the material turned out to be a beautiful substitute for bandages.
There were fewer infections in the wounds than in those with cotton bandages. The plant
material was a species of
Sphagnum moss, a bryophyte that forms peats or bogs. It was found to have antiseptic
properties and its leaves water absorbent! (1 kg plant material could absorb about 25 kg
water).
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THALLOPHYTES AND BRYOPHYTES

THALLOPHYTES BRYOPHYTES
1. Mostly aquatic Mostly terrestrial
2. Generally, no specialized water and Rhizoids anchor plant to the soil substratum
nutrient absorbing tissue (rhizoids and absorb small amounts of water and
and haustoria in fungi). mineral nutrients
3. Generally, food and water are Same for many bryophytes but higher forms
conducted in relatively have cells (leptoids) and water conducting
undifferentiated cells cells
(hydoids)
4. The plant body is mostly filamentous Only one stage of mosses is filamentous,
or intertwining filaments or cells or while all others are parenchymatous.
colonies of cells. Parenchyma occurs
only in a few
5. Alternation of generation is mostly Alternation of generations is distinct and
isomorphic. heteromorphic.
6. Both sporophytes and gametophytes Gametophyte is independent and the
are independent. sporophyte is dependent on the
gametophyte.
7. Gametangia (gamete producing Gametangia are multicellular and are always
structures) are either single cells or surrounded by a jacket of sterile cells.
groups of cells not surrounded by a
jacket of sterile cells.
8. Spores are mostly water dispersed Spores are mostly wind dispersed
9. Absence of fatty cuticle Fatty cuticle on plant surfaces to reduce
water loss.
10. None Plant zygotes develop into multicellular
embryos within the parental tissues
originally surrounding the egg
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BRYOPHYTES
1. Bryophytes are ubiquitous, they grow in moist and humid habitats such as:
 Old damp walls

 Moist rocks
 Wet ground
 Sides of streams, ditches or springs
 Cracks of side walks
 Roof tops
 Faces of cliffs
 Tombstones
 Bird nests
 As carpets on forest floors
 As sheaths on trunks of rain forest trees
In addition, some are restricted to specific habitats like: on antlers and bones of dead
reindeer, dung of herbivorous animals, dung of herbivorous animals, dung or
carnivorous animals, or on insect wings
2. Most bryophytes are small compact green land plants. Like green algae, they possess
chlorophylls A and B, starch, cellulose cell walls. They also have cuticle.
3. Bryophytes grow very slowly and low to the g ground. This is partly because they lack
true vascular tissues and lignified tissues. However, many mosses have special water
conducting cells called hydroids and food conducting cells called Jeptoids at the
centre of the stem. The absence of xylem and phloem makes most bryophytes soft and
pliable.
4. Bryophytes lack true leaves, stems and roots but some bryophytes have leaf like
structures on the main axis and rhizoids. The rhizoids anchor the plants to the soil
substratum and only absorb small amounts of water and mineral nutrients.
5. Bryophytes get most of their nutrients and water from dust, rain water and
substances dissolved in water at the soil surface. Water and dissolved minerals move
by diffusion over the whole surface of the plant body,
6. Bryophytes complete their life cycle in two generations in a distinct heteromorphic

alternation of generations. This means that each bryophyte has a different
morphological form in each generation and they regularly alternate with each other.
One generation is the haploid (n) gamete producing plant called the gametophyte
while the second is the diploid (2n), spore producing plant called the sporophyte.
7. The gametophyte plant ls the dominant plant. Its more conspicuous, long lived
(usually perennial), independent, green, and branched. The sporophyte plant is short
lived and completely dependent on the gametophyte.
8. The gametophyte is prostrate and thalloid in the primitive forms like Marchantia
while the gametophyte of mosses is erect, differentiated into stem-like axis and leaf-
like appendages e.g. Funaria
9. They reproduce by sexual and vegetative methods.
10. The sex organs are called gametangia, the gamete forming organs. The male
gametangia are called antheridia. Each antheridium has a stalk and a sac of fertile
called spermatogenous tissue. This develops to form the haploid sperms of
antherozoids. The sac is surrounded by a jacket of sterile cells.
The female gametangia are called archegonia. Each archegonium is flask shaped and
is composed of a long neck and a swollen base called venter containing a single egg
with a distinct nucleus. The archegonium is surrounded by a jacket of sterile calls.
11. Haploid sperms produced by the antheridia use flagella to swim down the neck of the
archegonium to the haploid egg and one sperm fuses with the egg to form a diploid
zygote.
12. The diploid zygote undergoes mitosis and grows to form the diploid sporophyte. The
diploid sporophyte is small, unbranched and is attached to the gametophyte with no
direct contact with the ground. At the terminal end is the sporangium (capsule) where
haploid spores are formed by meiosis.
13. The haploid spores are dispersed by wind and when they found on a moist
substratum, they germinate into the haploid gametophyte plant.
14. The gametophyte also reproduces by vegetative propagation in three ways: by

fragmentation, by the production of gemmae and by adventitious branches.
 By fragmentation: this involves the decay of older parts of the thallus and at
the
dichotomy, the two young branches separate and grow into new plants.
 By production of gemmae
CLASSIFICATION
According to the latest recommendations of ICBN (International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature), bryophytes have been divided into three classes.
1. Hepaticae (Hepaticopsida/ Liverworts). There are 7 orders:
 Marchantiales e.g. Marchantia, Riccia
 Jungermanniales e.g. Porella, Pellia
 Calobryales e.g. Calobryum
 Spherocarpales e.g. Spherocarpos
 Metzgeriales e.g. Metzegeria
 Takakiales e.g. Takakia
 Monocleales e.g. Monoclea
2. Anthocerotae (Anthocertopsida/ Hornworts), has 1 order Anthocerotales e.g.

Anthoceros
3. Musci (Bryopsida / Mosses), has 3 orders:

 Sphagnales e.g. Sphagnum
 Andreaeales e.g. Andreaea
 Bryales e.g. Funaria
General characteristics
1. Hepaticopsida – the liverworts
 They are called liverworts because their thallus resembles the lobes of a liver; while
the ending “wort” means “herb”.
 Liverworts lack conducting elements (cuticle & stomata)
 The gametophyte can be “thallose” or “leafy” (Jungermanniales)
 The thallus usually has some internal differentiation in the form of photosynthetic
cells, air chambers and storage tissues
 The sporophyte is compact, without or a short seta
 The capsule (sporangium) has a single-layered wall
2. Anthocerotopsida – the hornworts

 They are referred to as hornworts because many have elongated hornlike
structure, which is the sporophyte.
 The gametophyte may be as rosette or ribbon-like thallus
 Many hornworts develop internal mucilage-filled cavities invaded by photosynthetic
cyanobacteria, especially species of Nostoc.
 Such colonies of bacteria growing inside the thallus give the hornwort a distinctive
blue-green color.
 The horn-shaped sporophyte grows from an archegonium embedded deep in the
gametophyte
3. Bryopsida– the mosses

 It is the largest class of mosses, containing 95% of all moss species
 The gametophyte is differentiated into prostrate protonema and erect radial leafy
shoot, persistent leaves spirally arranged on stem, rhizoid with multicellular oblique
septa.
• Sporogonium is differentiated into foot, seta and capsule.
 The most important characteristic of the Bryopsida is the architecture of the ring of
teeth (peristome) surrounding the mouth of the sporophyte capsule.
 Bryopsida are the only mosses that have an arthrodontous peristome, i.e., a
peristome in which the teeth are structured by articulated cell wall remnants

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DIVISION BRYOPHYTA

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THALLOPHYTES AND BRYOPHYTES

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BRYOPHYTES

 Old damp walls

6. Bryophytes complete their life cycle in two generations in a distinct heteromorphic

14. The gametophyte also reproduces by vegetative propagation in three ways: by

2. Anthocerotae (Anthocertopsida/ Hornworts), has 1 order Anthocerotales e.g.

3. Musci (Bryopsida / Mosses), has 3 orders:

2. Anthocerotopsida – the hornworts

3. Bryopsida– the mosses

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