Division Bryophyta PDF
Division Bryophyta PDF
Division Bryophyta PDF
Division Bryophyta
DIVISION BRYOPHYTA
• Organisms belonging to this class like the heptics have both the
gametophyte and sporophyte thallus. The gametophyte of the
hornworts are much simpler and show little internal differentiation.
Anthoceros antheridia
CLASS MUSCOPSIDA
• The moss sporophyte consist of the foot, the sea (stalk), and the
sporangium (capsule). The foot is embedded in the gametophyte
tissue while the seta elongates rapidly raising the capsule above
the top of the leafy gametophyte. The calyptra which is upper
end of the old archegonium remains and serves as a covering
for the capsule.
CLASS: MUSCOPSIDA
All plants undergo a life cycle that takes them through both
haploid and diploid generations. The fluctuation between these
diploid and haploid stages that occurs in plants is called the
alternation of generations. The way in which the alternation of
generations occurs in plants depends on the type of plant. In
bryophytes (mosses and liverworts), the dominant generation is
haploid, so that the gametophyte comprises what we think of as
the main plant.
1. Describe the observed alternation of generation in
the bryophyte life cycle.
Like all plants, the bryophyte life cycle goes through both
haploid (gametophyte) and diploid (sporophyte) stages. The
gametophyte comprises the main plant (the green moss or liverwort),
while the diploid sporophyte is much smaller and is attached to the
gametophyte. The haploid stage, in which a multicellular haploid
gametophyte develops from a spore and produces haploid gametes, is
the dominant stage in the bryophyte life cycle.
Mosses are soft and leafy, with many tiny leaves, and the sporophytes
are small capsules on the end of long thin seta. Sex organs are usually protected
by sheathing leaves. Rhizoids are multicellular and much branched. Leaves are
not lobed and often possess a midrib several cells in thickness.
2. Compare the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses.
What are their similarities and differences?
Liverworts can be either thallose (large and rubbery leaves with flower-
like capsules) or leafy (smaller leaves). Their leaves are often lobed and lack a
midrib usually growing much closer to the ground, their sporophytes are either
like rubbery, green flowers or globes on a stem. Sex organs are discrete and
generally on the surface, but protected by enveloping structures. Rhizoids are
unicellular.
Hornworts are made of thalli. Thalli are irregularly lobed and branching
bodies. The hornworts possess a thallose gametophyte in which the sex organs
are completely embedded in the thallus. The sporophyte is always horn-shaped
and consists mainly of a sporangium that matures from the apex downward to
its foot in the thallus.
3. How does fertilization occurs in the bryophytes?
Why is water a requirement for the completion of the
life cycle of these organisms?
Bryophytes have neither pollen nor flowers and rely on water to carry
the male gametes (the sperm) to the female gametes (the eggs). The spore
capsules are produced after the sperm have fertilized the eggs. Hence the
spores are part of the sexual reproductive cycle.