NON-VASCULAR PLANTS -BRYOPHYTES

• Kingdom : Plantae
• Division :

Anthocerotophyta(exp:liverworts)

Marchantiophyta(exp:hornworts)

Bryophyta(exp:mosses)

• Also known as bryophytes
• The earliest land plants
• Lack of vascular tissue
• Roots are absent instead there are root like known as rhizoids

Hornworts

• Refer to tall narrow sporophytes
• Reproduces through spores
• Grow as a thin rosette or ribbon-like thallus
• Play an important component in their ecosystems

Occupy a unique niche
Helping to pioneer areas
Stabilizing soil
Playing role in nutrient recycling

hornworts

Liverworts

• Habitat : almost every available habitat
• Exp : desert, arctic, damp soil, moist rotting logs, along shaded stream banks, on rocks in stream
• The thallus gametophyte are flat, membranous forms with even, slightly wavy, lobed or leafy margins
• The leafy gametophytes consist of stem and leaves

liverworts

Mosses

• Habitat : damp or shady location
• Small and soft plants
• Do not have flowers or seeds and simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems
• Usually grow together forming a thick green carpet
• Propagate by microscopic spores
• Look like vascular plant but they are not
• Lack of true roots but have rhizoids which absorb water and anchor them
• Mosses help to stabilize soil and prevent it from eroding

mosses