1. Non- Vascular Plants Moss
Phylum Bryophyta
Non- Vascular Plants
Moss
Bryophyta means “mosslike plant”

2. Not really moss:
Irish moss (algae)
Reindeer moss (lichen)
Spanish moss (flowering plant)

3. Parts of a moss plant
Rhizoids
Leafy Shoot

4. Life Cycle of Moss

5. Alternation of Generations
Life Cycle of Moss
Alternation of Generations
Sporophyte Generation: produces spores (asexual)
Gametophyte Generation: produces gametes (sexual)

6. Life Cycle of Moss Gametophyte Generation
The top of the male gametophyte bears the antheridia which produces sperm
The top of the female gametophyte has one or more archegonia which contains the ova
Sperm swim from the antheridia to the archegonia and fertilizes an ovum (zygote)

7. Life Cycle of Moss Sporophyte Generation
Zygote grows into a stalk with a capsule which produces spores
When mature the cap comes off and spores disperse
Spore grows when environmental conditions are right
First grows into a cellular filament called a protonema
Protonema then forms the leafy shoots and rhizoids

8. Life Cycle of Moss
Protonema

9. Moss

10. Moss Capsule

11. Liverworts Marchantia – a common liverwort with a y-shaped thallus
“Liver Plant”
Marchantia – a common liverwort with a y-shaped thallus
Have splash platforms which look like little umbrellas

12. Benefits of Mosses Help to replenish the soil
Help to prevent soil erosion
Peat moss or Sphagnum is used by gardeners to pack plants for shipment and in Iceland and other northern regions it is used as fuel
Has been used for surgical dressing