Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophytasensu stricto. Bryophyta may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hornworts. Mosses typically form dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple leaves that are generally only one cell thick, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. Although some species have conducting tissues, these are generally poorly developed and structurally different from similar tissue found in vascular plants. Mosses do not have seeds and after fertilisation develop sporophytes with unbranched stalks topped with single capsules containing spores. They are typically 0.2–10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall, though some species are much larger. Dawsonia, the tallest moss in the world, can grow to 50 cm (20 in) in height. There are approximately 12,000 species.
Bryophytes are a group of land plants (embryophytes), sometimes treated as a taxonomic division, that contains three groups of non-vascular land plants: the liverworts, hornworts, and mosses. In the strict sense, the division Bryophyta consists of the mosses only. Bryophytes are characteristically limited in size and prefer moist habitats although some species can survive in drier environments. The bryophytes consist of about 20,000 plant species. Bryophytes produce enclosed reproductive structures, but they do not produce flowers or seeds. They reproduce sexually by spores and asexually by fragmentation or the production of gemmae.
The Marchantiophyta are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information. The division name was derived from the genus name Marchantia, named by French botanist Jean Marchant after his father.
Hornworts are a group of non-vascular Embryophytes constituting the division Anthocerotophyta. The common name refers to the elongated horn-like structure, which is the sporophyte. As in mosses and liverworts, hornworts have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of genetic information; the flattened, green plant body of a hornwort is the gametophyte stage of the plant.
Plant callus is a growing mass of unorganized plant parenchyma cells. In living plants, callus cells are those cells that cover a plant wound. In biological research and biotechnology callus formation is induced from plant tissue samples (explants) after surface sterilization and plating onto tissue culture medium in vitro. The culture medium is supplemented with plant growth regulators, such as auxin, cytokinin, and gibberellin, to initiate callus formation or somatic embryogenesis. Callus initiation has been described for all major groups of land plants.
Lunularia is a genus of liverworts whose only species is Lunularia cruciata, the crescent-cup liverwort. Lunularia is either the only genus in the order Lunulariales, or may be placed in the order Marchantiales. The name, from Latin luna, moon, refers to the moon-shaped gemma cups.
Anthoceros is a genus of hornworts in the family Anthocerotaceae. It is distributed globally. Species of Anthoceros are characterized by having a small to medium-sized, green thallus that is more or less lobed along the margins.
Rosmarinic acid, named after rosemary, is a polyphenol constituent of many culinary herbs, including rosemary, perilla, sage, mint, and basil.
Bryology is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes. Bryologists are people who have an active interest in observing, recording, classifying or researching bryophytes. The field is often studied along with lichenology due to the similar appearance and ecological niche of the two organisms, even though bryophytes and lichens are not classified in the same kingdom.
In enzymology, a trans-cinnamate 4-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.14.91) is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
Leiosporoceros dussii is the only species in the hornwort genus Leiosporoceros. The species is placed in a separate family, order, and class for being "genetically and morphologically distinct from all other hornwort lineages." Cladistic analysis of genetic data supports a position at the very base of the hornwort clade. Physical characteristics that distinguish the group include unusually small spores that are monolete and unornamented. Additionally, there are unique strands of Nostoc (cyanobacteria) that grow inside the plant parallel with its direction of growth. Unlike other hornworts with symbiotic cyanobacteria that enters through mucilage clefts, the mucilage clefts in Leiosporoceros is only present in young plants and then closes permanently once the cyanobacterial colonies have been established. Also mycorrhiza and pyrenoids are absent. Male plants have been found in Panama.
Funaria hygrometrica, the bonfire moss or common cord-moss, is a type of water moss which grows on shady, moist soil. It can also be found on moist walls and the crevices of rocks and places where recent fires have taken place. It has been reported to grow in Niagara Cave, an artificially illuminated cave devoid of natural light. Under such conditions, its growth form changes so that the internodes lengthen and the leaves become longer and narrower.
Aneura mirabilis is a parasitic species of liverworts in the family Aneuraceae. It was first described in 1933, as Cryptothallus mirabilis. Plants of this species are white as a result of lacking chlorophyll, and their plastids do not differentiate into chloroplasts.
Pellia epiphylla is a species of thallose liverwort. It occurs in North America, Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia. It grows in patches in damp, sheltered places on neutral or acidic substrates. It is common on the banks of rivers, streams and ditches and also grows in wet woodland, marshes and on wet rocks.
In biochemistry, naturally occurring phenols are natural products containing at least one phenol functional group. Phenolic compounds are produced by plants and microorganisms. Organisms sometimes synthesize phenolic compounds in response to ecological pressures such as pathogen and insect attack, UV radiation and wounding. As they are present in food consumed in human diets and in plants used in traditional medicine of several cultures, their role in human health and disease is a subject of research. Some phenols are germicidal and are used in formulating disinfectants.
Phaeoceros laevis, the smooth hornwort, is a species of hornwort of the genus Phaeoceros. It is commonly found in areas where moisture is plentiful, such as moist soils in fields, the banks of streams and rivers or inundated beneath the surface of the rivers. It grows to a maximum height of about 5 millimetres and the plants are monoecious; the sex organs are visible on the dorsal surface.
Tyrosine N-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.13.41, tyrosine N-hydroxylase, CYP79A1) is an enzyme with systematic name L-tyrosine,NADPH:oxygen oxidoreductase (N-hydroxylating). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Geraniol 8-hydroxylase (EC 1.14.14.83, Formerly EC 1.14.13.152, CYP76B6, G10H, CrG10H, SmG10H) is an enzyme with systematic name geraniol,NADPH:oxygen oxidoreductase (8-hydroxylating). This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction
Phaeoceros carolinianus is a species of hornwort—a group of simple, non-vascular plants—that is found worldwide in damp, shaded areas. It forms flat, dark green, rosette-shaped patches measuring 10–20 mm in diameter on bare soil and rock surfaces. The plant is characterised by its horn-like spore capsules, which grow 40–60 mm tall, and for producing both male and female reproductive structures on the same plant. These features, along with its unique spore structure, distinguish it from closely related species like P. laevis.
Jean Annette Paton is a British botanist, bryologist and botanical illustrator. She has written many books on the bryology of the United Kingdom and the flora of Cornwall, and described several new species.
