Tag: introduction to bryophytes

In mosses, the capsule is the terminal part of the sporophyte generation, which is responsible for producing spores.

Funaria and Marchantia are crytogamae, they have thin, soft leaves and roots. These are the characteristic of division Bryophyta.
Thallophyta and Pteridophyta are also cryptogamae but Thallophyta do not have root, stem and leaves and Pteriodophyta have root, stem and leaves. So, they are not the correct options as Funaria and Marchantia have false root, stem and leaves. 
Phanerogams is not the correct answer because phanerogams are flowering plants while Funaria and Marchantia are non-flowering plants.

The plant kingdom is divided into two sub-kingdoms: Cryptogamae and Phanerogamae.

Bryophytes are small, non-vascular plants, such as mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They play a vital role in regulating ecosystems because they provide an important buffer system for other plants, which live alongside and benefit from the water and nutrients that bryophytes collect. Some bryophyte species are amongst the first to colonise open ground. Bryophytes are also very good indicators of habitat quality as many plant species in this group are sensitive to levels of moisture in the atmosphere, which are lower in disturbed habitats because there is less shade. Mushrooms, ferns or cycas are not bryophytes. 

Bryophytes are small, non-vascular plants, such as mosses, liverworts and hornworts. They play a vital role in regulating ecosystems because they provide an important buffer system for other plants, which live alongside and benefit from the water and nutrients that bryophytes collect. Some bryophyte species are amongst the first to colonise open ground. Bryophytes are also very good indicators of habitat quality as many plant species in this group are sensitive to levels of moisture in the atmosphere, which are lower in disturbed habitats because there is less shade. 

Bryophytes and pteridophytes are characterized by having well-developed archegonia with a neck consisting of multiple rows of cells, a feature that distinguishes them from seed plants.

Marchantia is well known for its elaters, which are hygroscopic cells that help in the dispersal of spores from the capsule.

Marchantia is a bryophyte; its sporophyte is dependent on the gametophyte for nutrition and is not independent, unlike the sporophyte of pteridophytes.

In Marchantia, the archegonia are protected by a specialized structure called the perichaetium (or involucre).

The antherozoids of Marchantia are biflagellate, short, and curved, designed for swimming to the archegonia in a water film.